Recommendations for Java books / online classes?

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I’m about to finish working through Make’s book Getting Started with Processing, 2nd ed. I want to get better at Java itself, with an eye towards Processing v4. As I understand it, Processing v4 will use Java 11, while the current version of Processing uses Java 8. What books or online classes do you guys recommend for getting better at Java in general? I’d say I know only the very basics of Java after working through this book (very simple functions, classes, basic arrays, basic loops, basic data types), and would like to get better at some of the fundamentals of the language, the philosophy, etc. Ideally I’d like to learn Java 11, and I’d keep an eye on the differences between that and Java 8 for now, until P v4 releases.

Does that sound like a good idea? What learning resources would you guys recommend?

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I’ve been teaching myself computer programming and I’ve found out that problem solving, that is working on projects is way different and advanced than beginner lessons. I guess I’m not learning the deeper stuffs like inheritance, recursions etc. I mostly depend on videos on YouTube, so the learning resources I will recommend are mostly videos on YouTube. A lot of guys have complete lessons there, “freecodecamp” also has some comprehensive tutorials. I see adverts from code academy and Udemy, they are worth checking out. Then last but not the least from me are these class room video series on Java by Stanford University America. I hope I find the link, yes, here it is ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkMDCCdjyW8&list=PLA70DBE71B0C3B142

I’ve heard that computer programming Boot Camps are very good too.

I’m wishing you success as you climb the ladder in your computer programming career.

regards

Chigozie

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I teach a high school class using Think Java and the book is great. So is the sequel, Think Data Structures. You would have to modify the projects a little because they reference sites and services that may have changed.

Another route I’m curious about is the pair of intro courses from Princeton. They are offered for free on Coursera and are also taught with Java.

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Ideally I’d like to learn Java 11, and I’d keep an eye on the differences between that and Java 8 for now, until P v4 releases.

A general comment about the possibilities changing in Processing 4.

Processing uses a preprocessor and an underlying built-in Java version, so new Java language features in Processing depend on two things:

  1. what is the underlying Java?
  2. can new language syntax features pass through the preprocessor?

For example, Processing 3 uses Java 8, but it is a known issue that the ANTLR preprocessor implementation is still largely Java 6-ish era, and does not support some of the Java 7 and 8 languages features such as:

  • binary literals
  • diamond operators
  • lambda expressions
  • Strings in switch statements
  • underscores in numeric literals

Note that this doesn’t impact new and updated classes and methods – for example, import java.util.Optional works just fine in Processing 3, even though Optional was added in Java 8. It is only new syntax that is an issue.

This is a quick version history of some major Processing releases and Java releases.

date Processing Java
2020-01 Processing 3.5.4
2018-09 Java SE 11 (LTS)
2018-05 Java SE 10
2017-09 Java SE 9
2015-09 Processing 3.0
2014-07 Processing 3.0a1
2014-07 Processing 2.2.1
2014-05 Java SE 8
2013-06 Processing 2.0
2011-09 Processing 2.0a1
2011-07 Java SE 7
2011-05 Processing 1.5.1
2011-04 Processing 1.5
2010-07 Processing 1.2
2010-03 Processing 1.1
2008-11 Processing 1.0
2006-12 Java SE 6
2005-07 Processing beta
2004-09 Java J2SE 5.0
2002-02 Java J2SE 1.4
2001-08 Processing 0003
2000-05 Java J2SE 1.3

I believe that Processing was started on Java 1.3, Processing 1 and 2 were on Java 6, Processing 3 on Java 8 … and Processing 4 will be on OpenJDK 11.

Processing 4 may support many / most of this new syntax (that is, syntax from the above list of Java 8 features by virtue of its updated preprocessor, as well as additional Java 9, 10, and 11 language features (such as var). The alpha release is available here:

In addition to books and classes, it might be useful to think about the paradigm shifts by browsing overviews of major feature changes on the upgrade path – for example, 6-8, and 8-11.

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