best way to learn java

[sde]

ok, .. i guess books have worked best for me in the past .. can i get some recomendations?

i need to learn java now. i'll be interfacing with an ibm iSeries. i know there are some ibm books, .. but i need a really good java book which is current and covers a general range of subjects.

[ender]

If you want a broad range of topics, might I suggest online tutorials? The basics you can get from a book, or online as well. This is the best way I know of to get the range of topics you are looking for.

Ted Morse

[bdl]

The Java book I chose over countless others was 'Core Java 2 Fundamentals - V1' - Horstmann / Cornell ISBN 0-13-047177-1. I think it gives an excellent, in depth overview of Java from the standpoint of someone that already familiar with programming, you should have no problem with it. Speaking of which, there are alot of good tutorials and articles out there - a couple of links for ya:

Bruce Eckels' Thinking in Java (free ebook, also available in PDF)

Java tutorial - sun.com

artima.com Java articles index - I've read several articles here, very well done, IMHO

[Belisarius]

I like the book Effective Java, which was written by a close friend of a professor of mine, and I've found to be a good resource for some of the nuances of Java that don't normally get covered in beginner tutorials (such as best practices). It also has sections for the C programmer that's moving to Java.

Also, the #1 resource of any Java programmer is the API (1.4.2). It contains all the documentation for the core library classes.

[technobard]

I'll cast a second vote for Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java.
I also liked Beginning Java by Ivor Horton .

[sde]

thanks a lot!