This is Sun's own tutorial book on Java. It's quite good. Aimed at programmers who are already familiar with another language, this book teaches the syntax of the language, a little about object-oriented thinking and a lot about the java API's. This book is particularly strong because it teaches you how to use new features in JDK 1.1 such as inner classes. This is a great place to start.

Now you've learned the basics, but you'd like to learn a little more? This is the book for you. It covers streams, threads, and networking as well as advanced JDK 1.1 features such as JDBC, RMI, CORBA and Java Beans.

If you're looking for an inexpensive reference book on Java, this is the best you can get. The first Java book I ever bought was the first edition of this book, solely on the strength of the publisher's reputation (O'Reilly); I was not disappointed. Edition 2 has been updated to cover JDK 1.1

Having trouble getting your windows to repaint? Are your applets really slow when they transfer information over the net? High-performance GUI and network progamming in Java requires an understanding of threads. No worry, we've got two great books on the subject. Do you know the words race condition, mutex and deadlock? If so, you won't need this first book. Java Threads is aimed at a programmer who knows little or nothing about threads and explains all the concepts. It's particularly strong because it explains more about the details of how threads work in Java than you can find in any other place.

Many programmers feel this is the most beautiful book about Java you can get today. The previous book covered the mechanics of threading in Java. This book covers object-oriented design with threads. Not just how to use threads, but how to use them well in reusable systems. This book will teach you a lot about object-oriented design in general. I will have to warn you that this book is a little advanced and that if you don't already know the basic concepts of threading you'd be better off reading the previous book first.

My favorite thing about Java is that it's a wonderful language for object- oriented design. Although this book isn't about Java in particular, no Java programmer who reads this book will ever code the same way again. Design Patterns is a catalog of strategies that programmers use to solve recurring problems in design. For the first time it gives us a vocabulary for discussing the decisions we make when designing software. A great book.