This collection lists the best Java books. Since Java is not only a programming language but also a huge ecosystem, the list consists of books describing the language itself, as well as frameworks and third-party libraries. The books are listed in ascending order of the reader's level of training.
Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates "Head First Java"
Even though the 2nd edition of this book was published more than fifteen years ago, it is a good start for those who had not experienced programming before and chose Java as their first language. Easy presentation of the material and numerous illustrations will help you quickly master new material. "Head First Java" also provides a straightforward and clear explanation of object-oriented programming concepts that is very important for beginners.
Herbert Schildt "Java: A Beginner's Guide"
Those who find "Head First Java" too simple and even naive can start learning Java from Herbert Schildt's book. It examines the topics under consideration in sufficient detail, although some find the author's presentation a little dry. This book is intended for those who already have programming experience and have just started learning Java. The 9th edition of this bestseller has been updated for Java 17.
Bruce Eckel "Thinking in Java"
When writing programs, it is important not only to know the programming language but also to be able to express ideas, architecture, and algorithms in it. This book will help you approach programming as a creative process and gain a deeper understanding of the concepts that underlie Java. The "Thinking in Java" book also considers design patterns and how to implement them in Java.
Joshua Bloch "Effective Java"
This is a classic that is worth reading regardless of the level of proficiency in the Java language. In this book, Joshua Bloch gives practical advice on how to use the capabilities of the Java language and the standard library as efficiently as possible (as stated in the title). The "Effective Java" has made a huge contribution to the Java community. For example, Kotlin creators guided by this book and links to "Effective Java" appear more than once in the official documentation of this new programming language.
Brian Goetz "Java Concurrency in Practice"
Multithreading is a rather complicated topic, especially for beginners. Managing parallel execution threads requires special skills and experience from the developer, and finding and correcting errors in multithreaded code is always very difficult. It is not surprising that whole books are devoted to this topic. Even though the book covers Java 5, it is still in demand. The work of Brian Father and co-authors is perhaps the best tutorial on creating multithreaded Java applications.
Christian Bauer, Gavin King, Gary Gregory "Java Persistence with Hibernate"
Almost any serious Java application cannot do without working with databases. The book provides an exhaustive guide on how to build a mapping between relational databases and object models in Java, form complex queries, manage transactions. Further, "Java Persistence with Hibernate" addresses performance issues like fetching strategies, entity graphs, and caching. As Hibernate is one of the most popular Java frameworks, this book is a must-read.
Craig Walls "Spring in Action"
Today, any Java developer should have knowledge of how to create applications from scratch using Spring and how it works inside. This book considers the key Spring components: DI, Boot, MVC, Data, Security. Also, it provides complete information on the mechanics of its operation. "Spring in Action" is easy to read and describes all needed to start developing Spring applications, so it is one of the best books for beginners to learn Spring.
Lasse Koskela "Test Driven: TDD and Acceptance TDD for Java Developers"
Writing tests is an integral part of software development. They help ensure that the code behaves in a certain way. This book introduces the reader to the concepts of TDD (test-driven development) and ATDD (acceptance test-driven development) and describes techniques for using them when developing Java applications. Further, this book will be useful for those who do not actively use TDD but write tests. "Test Driven" considers how to cover data-access code, concurrent programs, and user-interface code with tests.
Josh Long, Kenny Bastani "Cloud Native Java: Designing Resilient Systems with Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, and Cloud Foundry"
This is one of the best books for those who develop applications with a microservice architecture and use modern approaches in Java. The authors show how to use Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, and Cloud Foundry to build scalable, distributed, and fault-tolerant solutions. Also, the book covers testing, configuration, security, managing data, data integration, and cloud-based applications delivery.
Scott Oaks "Java Performance: The Definitive Guide: Getting the Most Out of Your Code"
Java provides a very effective compiler and virtual machine, but large and high-load projects usually require additional performance tuning. This book helps to optimize Java applications and describes the internal mechanisms of JVM such as JIT, memory management, and garbage collectors. Also, "Java Performance" conders the performance of multithreaded code and database applications. Tools for profiling and monitoring are also considered.
Conclusion
Developers are constantly required to improve their skills and learn new technologies. Although online courses, webinars, and YouTube videos are now becoming more familiar formats for obtaining professional information, books are still popular. It is convenient to find and refine information in books, and cursory rereading will allow you to quickly refresh your knowledge.