Reading a book to learn Java?

[EIijah]

So this semester we started doing Java (Last semester we did python) and the teacher recommended us a book but I'm unsure if it's worth buying, did you guys use books to learn Programming?

[AlwaysFSX]

I have a couple Java books I used to read about the theory and how to code along with actually coding from what the book was saying. Books are great for knowledge but not just a substitute for actually doing it.

[Textosterone]

LYNDA.COM

[EIijah]

LYNDA.COM

I don't have the internet to be doing that and barely have the money anyway

[Textosterone]

I don't have the internet to be doing that and barely have the money anyway

in almost every linus tech video he advertises a free month or something of the sort.

[EIijah]

in almost every linus tech video he advertises a free month or something of the sort.

Again, Don't have the Internet to be doing it, I can barely watch Linus in 360p at home without waiting 10 minutes for it to load

[TheKDub]

Nope, I haven't used any books or such for learning how to program java, I've just come up with things I want to make with the code, looked at other peoples code that does what I want or similar, then made my own version of it once I get a general feeling for how it will all work.

 

So far it's worked decently well

[manikyath]

program to learn, dont learn to program.

[madknight3]

Yes, books are still great resources to use. A quality book can contain an immense amount of good information all in one place (often presented in a specific way to aid learning the material). I don't see how that can be a bad thing. Even if you can find the same information on the internet, it can still be nice to have it gathered together for you. Still, it's just one of the many options to choose from. There are online tutorials, video tutorials, official/unofficial documentation, etc. Use what works best for you (which can mean using a combination of resources).

 

Not every book is good though, just like not every resource on the internet is good. So it's best to avoid bad books and resources where possible (look at reviews as one indicator). Also, just because a book might seem old, doesn't mean it's still not relevant today. It can mean that, but it's not a given.

 

For example, here's some commonly recommend books for Java developers. Note that the non-Java books included in that link apply to many languages so they are commonly recommended books to a lot of developers.

[Nuluvius]

Beyond a very quick reference no, I haven't used books overly much to this day. They also tend to deprecate rather quickly due to the speed that things are moving - in particular C++. Although new revisions are made...

Still though the information can be obtained online be it in a more nebulous form.

Ultimately it's down to how best we learn as individuals. Due to my particular disposition it takes me longer to read through a book than it does to learn the direct way by doing and spot researching.

That said it doesn't mean that my digital library is not vast... quite the contrary it's immense.