Printed resources

Required textbook

David J. Barnes and Michael Kolling: Objects First with Java - A Practical Introduction using BlueJ, Prentice Hall / Pearson Education, 2nd ed, 2004, ISBN: 0-13-124933-9. The books comes with BlueJ on a CD, but you're better off downloading the most recent version of the software from http://www.bluej.org/ (2.0.5 in September 2005). The book also has a companion website at http://www.bluej.org/objects-first/).

Please explore the various online resources, such as

• the projects described in the book; supplementary projects for Java 1.5.
• an errata
• The BlueJ tutorial
• BlueJ - Frequently Asked Questions
• Java crosswords
• a Java style guide
• "The BlueJ system and its pedagogy"
• "Guidelines for teaching Object Orientation with Java"
• "Teaching and Learning with BlueJ: an Evaluation of a Pedagogical Tool"
• Pedagogical Patterns

If you were late to buy your copy of the textbook, here are the Preface, Chapter 1: "Objects and classes", and Chapter 2: "Understanding class definitions". Here's also a copy of Chapter 7: "Designing classes ".

Note. The book is a good Object-Oriented Programming tutorial based on the Java programming language. It introduces concepts in an order appropriate for learning OOP; therefore it is nor good as a Java reference, you may want to look at some of the Java books below for that.

Recommended textbooks

• David Flanagan: Java in a Nutshell, 4th edition. O'Reilly, 2002 (covers Java 1.4).
  Online materials at: http://www.oreilly.com.catalog.javanut4/ .
  Very fast-paced tutorial for Java, with fairly complex examples. Very good as a reference book.
• (David Flanagan: Java Examples in a Nutshell, 2nd edition. O'Reilly, 2000 (covers Java 1.3).)
  More complex and complete examples..

• Cay S. Horstmannn, Gary Cornell: Core Java 2, vol I: Fundamentals (2005), vol II: Advanced Features (2004). Sun Microsystems Press, 2002.
  I like the style, clear and concise.

• Bruce Eckel: Thinking in Java, 3rd edition. Prentice Hall, 2003.
  A pretty good introduction to Java as an object-oriented language, but it assumes some familiarity with programming (in a different language). Also available online (free !) at http://www.bruceeckel.com.

• Ian F. Darwin: Java Cookbook - Solutions and Examples for Java Developers. O'Reilly, 2001.
  As the name suggests, it's a book of receipes on how to do various things with Java.
  It comes with a website at: http://javacook.darwinsys.com.

• Glenn Brookshear: Computer Science - An Overview, Addison Wesley, 2003, ISBN: 0201781301. Webpage at http://wps.aw.com/aw_brookshear_compsci_7/, including teaching slides.

• Ivor Horton: Beginning Java 2, JDK 5 Edition, Wiley, 2005, ISBN: 0-7645-6874-4.

• Joe Wigglesworth and Paula McMillan: Java Programming: Advanced Topics, Thomson - Course Technology, 2004, ISBN: 0-619-15968-5.

• Art Gittleman: Advanced Java: Internet Applications, Scott Jones, 2002, ISBN: 1-57676-096-0. Webpage at http://www.cecs.csulb.edu/~artg/internet/advanced.html.

• David Geary: Graphic Java 2, vol 1: AWT, vol 2: Swing , vol 3: 2D, The Sun Microsystem Press.

• John Zukowski: The Definitive Guide to Java Swing, Apress, 3rd edition, 2005, ISBN 1-59059-447-9.

• Robert Sedgewick: Algorithms in Java, Parts 1-4: Fundamntals, data Structures, Sorting, Searching; part 5: Graph Algorithms. Addison-Wesley / Pearson Education, 2003, ISBN: 0-201-36120-5.

• Martin Fowler: UML distilled, 3rd Edition, Addison-Wesley, 2004, ISBN: 0-321-19368-7.

• Cay Horstmann, Object-Oriented Design and Patterns, 2nd Edition, Wiley, 2006, ISBN: 0-471-74487-5.

• Eric Freeman and Elisabeth Freeman: Head First Design Patterns, O'Reilly, 2004, ISBN:0-596-00712-4.

• Steve Holzner: Eclipse, O'Reilly, 2004, ISBN: 0-596-00641-1. Also see http://www.eclipse.org/.

• Tim Boudreau et al: NetNeans - The Definitive Guide, O'Reilly, 2003, ISBN: 0-596-00280-7. Also see http://www.netbeans.org/.

• Joe Walnes et al: Java Open Source Programming, Wiley, 2004, ISBN: 0-471-46362-0.

• Frederick P. Brooks: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition), Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0201835959.
  The classic book on the human elements of software engineering.

Web resources

Note. You will spend a fortune if you want to stay up-to-date with new Internet technology by buying books. Learns to find and use documentation, tutorials, and other such Web resources.

Java

• Download the Java Software Developers Kit (J2SDK).
• Sun's Java 1.5 documentation (of particular interest is the API)
• Sun's Java tutorial
• Java data typtes
• The Java Collection Classes, from Sun's online Java Tutorial.
• User Interfaces that Swing: A Quick Start Guide.
• Description of the Javadoc tool, including a list of Javadoc tags.
• How to Write Doc Comments for the Javadoc TM Tool - Sun's own recommendations for writing good comments.
• Sun Development Network - Technical Tips

Interesting articles

• Vicki L. Almstrum - What is the attraction to computing?, CACM 46(9), Sep 2003.
• Keith Devlin - Why universities require computer science students to take math, CACM 46(9), Sep 2003.
• Kim B. Bruce, Robert L. Scot Drysdale, Charles Kelemen, Allen Tucker - Why math ?, CACM 46(9), Sep 2003.
• Peter B. Henderson - Mathematical reasoning in software engineering education, CACM 46(9), Sep 2003.