Best Java Book | Top Java Programming Book for Beginners

Being certified Java programmer SE 7, Enterprise Edition ( EE ) Application, etc. from Oracle & ex-Developer at Oracle, I can refer some of the best java books for learning.

Why Java?  Java is most used language across many Multi National Companies like Amazon, Walmart, Goldman Sachs, Google, etc. for their coding because of its many features. Java is best for great architecture as it is easy to scale, multi-threading support, secure, robust and most important: Java is easy to learn.

It also provides the foundation for many languages and platforms such as Android, Groovy. So It becomes the most important language to learn.
Without wasting much of your time, let’s go through some of the best programming books for Java and grab the one which suits you.

Publisher	Title of Java Book	Pages in the book	Year	Price Range
O'Reilly Media	Head First Java, 2nd Edition	688	2005	Check Price
Amazon Digital Services	JAVA: A Beginner to Expert Guide to Learning the Basics of Java Programming	162	2016	Check Price
McGraw-Hill Education	Java: The Complete Reference, Ninth Edition	1312	2014	Check Price
Prentice Hall	Thinking in Java (4th Edition)	1150	2006	Check Price
Pearson	Java: An Introduction to Problem Solving and Programming (7th Edition)	1024	2014	Check Price
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform	Data Structures and Algorithms Made Easy in Java: Data Structure and Algorithmic Puzzles, Second Edition	450	2011	Check Price
Pearson	Building Java Programs: A Back to Basics Approach (4th Edition)	1224	2016	Check Price
Addison-Wesley	Effective Java (2nd Edition)	346	2008	Check Price
Pearson	Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Objects (6th Edition)	1224	2015	Check Price
Pearson	Java How To Program (Early Objects) (10th Edition)	1248	2014	Check Price
Prentice Hall	Core Java Volume I--Fundamentals (9th Edition) (Core Series)	1008	2012	Check Price
Addison-Wesley Professional	Java Concurrency in Practice	384	2006	Check Price

Some Other Recommendation for You

Here is the list of best Java Books which explains all stages of Java learning with their pros and cons.

Head First Java, 2nd Edition ( Best Java Book )

Let me first introduce you to the authors of this book. Kathy Sierra is America’s one of the best programming instructor and game developer.

She describes this book as “I wish I’d had such book when I was first learning a topic (in Java) ”

This Java programming book combines simple puzzles, strong visuals to understand complex Java and object-oriented programming ( OOP ) concepts and interviews with famous Java objects to engage you in many different ways.

It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s effective. This Java book covers most complex topics which are explained and illustrated in an efficient manner for Java learners. Topics such as a complete introduction to object-oriented programming in Java, fundamentals to advance usage of threads, network sockets, and distributed programming with RMI, etc. It is also one of the top Java books to learn.

JAVA: A Beginner to Expert Guide to Learning the Basics of Java Programming

This Java programming book is best for those who have just started or going to start learning Java. I recommend this book because if you start Java learning from this book, Your coding standard automatically will be set to industry level and company’s expectation as this book focuses on the step-by-step approach to learning with many examples and screenshots of actual programming codes.

James Patterson has written this Java book for beginners. It’s every chapter starts with Java’s key concepts and goals for it.

This book also covers several libraries and their usage in code, which will improve your Java understanding and how different Jar libraries are useful and how to evaluate them for your code’s usage.

After completion of this book, your fundamentals of Java will improve and have interest to deep dive more in Java and coding. No doubt it is one of the best Java book for beginners.

Best Java Books for Intermediates.

Java: The Complete Reference, Ninth Edition

This Java programming book is one the best book for those who are done with their basics of Java and ready to learn latest fundamentals of Java.

This book covers all latest Java SE 8 This is one of the best Java Book for those who are done with their basics of Java and ready to learn latest fundamentals of Java.

This book covers all latest Java SE 8 Fundamentals in details such as lambda expressions, the stream library, and the default interface method.

Together with that, the book covers all Java principles from basic to expert level, API library, JavaBeans, Swing, Applets.

This study guide also includes the solid introduction to JavaFX, a software platform for creating and delivering desktop applications, as well as Rich Internet Applications (RIA) that can run across a wide variety of devices. In details such as lambda expressions, the stream library, and the default interface method.

 

So it is one of the best book on Java for intermediates.

Thinking in Java (4th Edition)

This Java programming book you can refer after reading any of above book, as this book, is for little experienced Java programmer who wants to put emphasis only on Java.

This book has renounced users such as Jim Pleger: Loudoun County Government, Anatoly Vorobey: Technion University, Haifa, Israel & Ravindra Pai: Oracle Corporation, SUNOS product line. All of them recommend this book as “Thinking in Java should be read cover to cover by every Java programmer, then kept close at hand for frequent reference.”

About This book, If these experienced people recommend this book, I don’t need to say what makes it best Java book most favored amongst all Java books.  Thinking in Java has earned so many awards because it is extraordinarily clear, organized, and it covers small and accurate direct programming examples.

This book covers all topics that above two books (Head First Java, 2nd Edition & JAVA: A Beginner to Expert Guide)  covers along with that it covers Test Frameworks, All Design Patterns in Java with code, Introduction to XML for data transfer, concurrency, 500+ working Java programs in 700+ compiling files.

This book also contains multimedia seminar and compiled source code CD to enhance your learning experience.

I suggest this book as best Java book for beginners, expert and Design patterns too.

Best Java Book for Interview & Coding.

Java: An Introduction to Problem Solving and Programming (7th Edition)

This Java programming book is known as the bible for those who wants to crack coding interviews in Java.
It explains object-oriented programming and important concepts such as Design, Testing and Debugging, Programming style, Interfaces inheritance, and Exception handling.

With the purchase of this book, you will get access to MyProgrammingLab which helps practice and immediate personalized feedback which helps students fully grasp the logic, semantics, and syntax of programming.

This book covers Numerous case studies, programming examples, and programming tips. This book is total Java learning package, which makes this book a best Java book for all.

Data Structures and Algorithms Made Easy in Java by Narasimha Karumanchi

Let me tell you about Author, Lead Engineer in Amazon, Software engineer in Microsoft and IBM. He has several Patents on Algorithm and Data Structure.

This book is not so famous in Non-Indians, But frankly speaking to you that this book is best for all those who wants to crack coding interview of Adobe, Microsoft, Amazon or Google or any other company in Java.

It also includes all puzzles of Data Structure and Algorithms. These puzzles are stepping stone for many questions you can find in interviews of Amazon, IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft or on CareerCup.
Indeed this book is the best programming book for Java

 

Building Java Programs: A Back to Basics Approach (4th Edition)

Building JAVA Programs a book by Stuart Reges and Marty Stepp is one of the best books available in the market.The prep material is well written and has a modern organization regarding sidebars and graphic design also; gives you everything such as Code files from each chapter, self-check answers, programming projects and solutions, functional programming, exercise and programming problems at the end of a chapter. Author has done an excellent work by explaining how things work, common errors to avoid and full coding examples.

This book is best for those who are beginners hence have no knowledge of JAVA as it emphasizes the basics perhaps it would be a good reference book.

Effective JAVA (2^nd Edition)

Effective JAVA by Joshua Bloch, published in 2008 with 300+pages includes new coverage of generics, autoboxing, annotations, etc. It also focuses on the language and the underlying libraries: java.lang, java.util, and java.io. Author has given the combo of many things in one book like updated techniques, best practices on classic topics which hold classes, methods, objects, libraries and serialization.

JAVA Developers who want to take their JAVA skills to the next level for them it’s a unique and worth spending book. After reading this book, your approach towards coding will change as it will lead to a proper coding. Though it is not a beginner’s book but useful for every JAVA programmer.

Starting Out With JAVA (6^th Edition)

Starting out with JAVA provides a step-by-step introduction to programming in JAVA. Author Gaddis has made sure that book covers procedural programming control structures and methods. The book contains clear and easy-to-read code listing, short and practical real-time examples and plenty of exercises.

It’s a 1200+pages Java book which starts with an introduction of control structures helping beginners to clear their concept of loops. For students out there, for whom JAVA is a nasty language to learn, this book makes learning bearable. It is well written, good explanations. Well organized, an excellent index, very easy follow and explains how concepts fit into the big picture. If you are not a beginner then you will find this book little slow; start with chapter 2, that’s where the coding begins. This is certainly a recommended programming book on Java.

 

JAVA How To Program

JAVA How to Program (10th Edition) by Paul Deitel and Harvey Deitel; A book with an ample coverage of fundamentals and real world examples. Millions of students and professionals have learned programming and software development with Deitel books, and the latest one is the 10th Edition. The book covers clear and engaging objects introduction to JAVA programming. It features objects presentation, Integrated exception handling, files; streams and object serialization. Further, the Java book will clear all your doubts, and this text appears to be prepared for the classroom, from its content (25 chapters, 1400+pages, and CD).

Only one thing will bother you before you buy is its weight yes, the book is bulky and its bit expensive. To summarize; if you are a newbie and have a little knowledge of JAVA then must do for this book because it is easy to read with plenty of code examples and exercise.

Core JAVA Volume 1- Fundamentals

Core JAVA Volume1 –Fundamentals by Cay S. Horstmann, A reference book that got a detailed explanation of various features of JAVA. This Book will give you the answers to all of the little pieces of JAVA. The book starts with the general primary like assignments, looping, and native types.

Objects related concepts such as inheritance, functional style and interfaces and explaining a bit about the Java platform and how to download and install the JDK. It also provides examples so that you can be sure that you’re up and running on your computer. You will see that the chapters are consistently formatted, and it will give you a good idea of the authors’ writing style. Book also provides sample code, as well as the level of programming.

The book finishes with concurrent programming. Concurrency in Java is a bit of a mess, but the author did an excellent job by keeping things easy and under-stable. This book is straightforward and easy to read under 1000 pages.

JAVA Concurrency In Practice

 

Java Concurrency in Practice is a book written by Brian Goetz. It is ripe with JAVA Virtual Machine concurrency concepts, building a pattern language for safety and performance. This Java Book starts with an introduction to concurrency which will motivate you to read more, and it will clear your basic concepts such as atomicity, locking, liveness, and visibility. Author has very nicely explained the importance safe programming. If you a programmer who executes code in multiple threads then this book will help to avoid bugs and run your code.

Added, this Book is a tool which provides you theory, code review and static analysis that can assist you in avoiding pesky bugs. You will get all abundance of knowledge in less than 400 pages, and if every JAVA developer read this book before writing any concurrent code, then noticeable change will be seen in programming.

JAVA Generics And Collections

JAVA Generics and Collection is a well-written book by Maurice Naftalin and Philip Wadler. Generics are an inseparable part of JAVA programming language, and the author has explained this in detail. The Prerequisite to reading this book is to see both Generics as a concept and as particular implementation by JAVA platform.  The chapter describing how to declare generic class helps you build your classes. Code and diagrams in this book are very easy to understand and great resources when trying to decide collection or map implementation to use for a particular program.

This book will answer all your “Whys” by providing everything in a simple, readable approach. After reading the book, you will see how things work such as autoboxing/unboxing, var-args methods, and typesafe collections of JAVA objects. The 300+pages book is beautiful and comprehensive guides that describe almost every entity in the JAVA language.

Wrapping Up

So, this list contains some of the Best Java Books for Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced level learners. We have our tried best to include all the books which can be helpful to all the Java students. If you think any Java Book should come on this list, you can comment below or email us we will add it to this list.