21 Best Java Programming Books for Beginners & Experts [2021 Updated]

21 Best Java Programming Books for Beginners & Experts [2021 Updated]
21 Best Java Programming Books for Beginners & Experts [2021 Updated]

We’ve rounded up a handful of the best books in 2021 for beginners as well as seasoned Java programmers that will help to further their learning of the language.

Even if you are attending a classroom course with advanced peers and an excellent professor, you still need a book, because there’s no teacher like a good book. If you are looking at developing a career as a java developer and want the perfect book for a round of your teaching supplies, look no further.

In the following list, we’ve hand-those seasoned picks 21 of the best books you’ll ever find on Java programming. They cater to the whole spectrum of learners, ranging from beginners, who are only looking to begin their journey in Java, to seasoned programmers who need a refresher and reference material from time to time to stay abreast with the current developments. So, dig in!


FOR BEGINNERS

1.   Core Java Volume I – Fundamentals

MRP: Rs. 4,482 (Offer Price-Rs.3,120 [may vary])

Author: Cay S. Horstmann
Publisher: Prentice-Hall
Latest edition: 11th Edition
Online ratings: 4.7/5
Our rating: 4.8/5

Written by Cay S. Horstmann, a computer science professor at the San Jose State University, this incredibly detailed book with a 4.7 rating gives an overview of the capabilities of the Java language. It is basic enough for newbies and explains everything in a style that can be understood by the layman. At the same time, it is also detailed enough to be beneficial for experienced programmers. It’s a great choice for beginners in software development.

PROS:

  • Relevant for all experience level
  • Coding examples
  • Thoughtful explanations

CONS:

  • Collection chapter not in the printed version
  • More on the basics side

2. Effective Java

MRP: Rs.4,124 (Offer Price-Rs. 2,449 [may vary])

Author: Joshua Bloch
Publisher: Addison Wesley
Latest edition: 3rd Edition
Online ratings: 4.7/5
Our rating: 4.7/5

This is a marvelous piece of work authored by Joshua Bloch, who holds a PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University and one of the developers behind Java. It not only comes packed with a ton of good practical advice for programmers but also explains the reasoning behind the things you may have heard casually thrown about in this field.
As a bonus, this wondrous book also gives you all the never-before known meaty behind-the-scenes of Java programming. This almost-5 star book is available on Amazon even in an online format.

PROS:

  • Precise and to the point
  • In-depth explanations
  • New language Features included

CONS:

  • For beginner to intermediate
  • Some concepts redundant

3. Java: A Beginner’s Guide

MRP: Rs. 750(Offer Price-Rs. 638 [may vary])

Author: Herbert Schildt
Publisher: McGraw Hill
Latest edition: 8th Edition
Online ratings: 4.5/5
Our rating: 4.7/5

If you are looking for a course in Java programming but don’t wish to pay the hefty bucks that will cost you such a course, this is the book for you. Written by Herbert Schildt, this book is often used as a textbook in intro classes of Java programming. The book dives into every minute detail and explains everything with helpful reference tables and clear examples. All chapters are succeeded by a small exercise and questions, thereby allowing students to become self-reliant.

PROS:

  • Cheaper comparatively
  • In-depth explanations
  • Easy to follow

CONS:

  • For beginner to intermediate
  • Vocabulary on the tougher side

4. Java: The Complete Reference

MRP: Rs.1,099 (Offer Price – Rs. 854[may vary])

Author: Herbert Schildt
Publisher: Oracle Press
Latest edition: 10th Edition
Online ratings: 4.5/5
Our rating: 4.4/5

Coming from the same author, who incidentally is also a famous musician, this slightly advanced book covers certain points that teach you the most important aspects of programming that will guide you throughout your career in coding. It gives you deep insights into Java core including generics, interfaces, inheritance, classes, packages, as well as the basic programming concepts.

PROS:

  • Comprehensive coverage
  • In-depth explanations

CONS:

  • For beginner to intermediate
  • Fewer code examples

5. Java: How to Programme, Early Objects

MRP: Rs.5,003 [Offer Price: Rs. 4,061]

Author: Harvey Deitel
Publisher: Pearson
Latest edition: Global Edition
Online ratings: 5/5
Our rating: 4.5/5

Paul J. Deitel and Harvey Deitel authored this book for those who have just begun their career in programming and have only developed a basic understanding of coding. The book explains the super basic programming constructs, data structures and simple algorithms. If you aren’t a seasoned programmer, then this book might be a waste for you.

PROS:

  • Comes with MyLab Programming for hands-on Learning
  • In-depth explanations
  • With examples and exercise

6. Java: Programming Basics for Absolute Beginners (Step-By-Step Java Book 1)

MRP: Rs. 0 (Free)

Author: Nathan Clark
Publisher: Kindle
Latest edition: Kindle Edition
Online ratings: 4.2/5
Our rating: 4.5/5

You can read this absolutely free kindle unlimited version of Nathan Clarks – Java for absolute beginners. It is always difficult to start learning a new programming language. This book is especially for those who are just starting with java. It covers all the simple concepts and basics of Java programming language. This book is packed with various practical examples and explanations to them. A must-read if you just started exploring Java.

PROS:

  • Free of cost
  • In detail explanation of basic concepts
  • With examples and code

For intermediate to advanced

7. Head First Java

MRP: Rs. 1000

Author: Kathy Sierra & Bert Bates
Publisher: O Reilly’
Latest edition: 2nd Edition
Online ratings: 4.3/5
Our rating: 4.2/5

Also dubbed as brain-friendly guides, this line of books are very popular with those who’ve just begun their career in programming. Co-authored by Bert Bates and Kathy Sierra, this is the kind of book that caters to amateur and advanced programmers.
The book follows a set pattern of introducing a concept, some code examples, visual aid in the form of pictures and diagrams, a bit of humour to reinforce the subject, followed by puzzles and other exercises at the end of the chapters.

PROS:

  • Animation and Pictures instead of a plain boring read
  • In-depth explanations of basic concepts
  • With examples and codes

8. Java Concurrency in Practice

MRP: Rs. 550 (Offer Price-Rs. 420 [may vary])

Author: Brain Goetz and others
Publisher: Pearson
Latest edition: 1st Edition
Online ratings: 4.4/5
Our rating: 4.5/5

Brian Goetz provides a thorough, 360-degrees learning strategy to Concurrency in Java, It unveils all possible aspects of Java concurrency, beginning at the very basic concepts and advancing to the difficult ones. The author has done an excellent job in illustrating the basics and then developing a solid foundation on top of it.

PROS:

  1. Easily Understandable concepts
  2. Coverage of beginner to advanced concepts
  3. With examples and code

CONS:

  1. Technical Jargon
  2. Language on the tougher side

9. Test Driven: TDD and Acceptance TDD for Java Developers

MRP: Rs. 3,189 (Offer Price- Rs.3,078 [may vary])

Author: Lasse Koskela
Publisher: Manning
Latest edition: 1st edition
Online ratings: 4/5
Our rating: 4.2/5

Authored by Lasse Koskela, this book gets full marks for writing text that is well written and engaging. The introductory material serves as the perfect refresher course for developers on TDD. The author has been extremely patient and has maintained the pace that will keep the reader interested.

PROS:

  • For beginners of TDD
  • Descriptive Explanation

CONS:

  • For seasoned Java developers

10. Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

MRP: Rs. 950

Author: Brett D. McLaughlin & Dave West
Publisher: O Reilly’
Latest edition: 1st Edition
Online ratings: 4.2/5
Our rating: 4.4/5

Another brain friendly guide from the series, authors Brett McLaughlin, Gary Pollice and David West have attempted to create material that isn’t too intimidating or overwhelming. The easy-to-read approach and the added humour make this book a good fit for beginners.
The title may be misleading but all the examples are exhibited in Java which makes it a must-read for all Java enthusiasts. All books from this series follow a non-conventional format and this ensures that readers retain the information long after they have read it.

PROS:

  • Easy to understand
  • Coverage of beginner to advanced concepts
  • With examples and application code

11. Java Performance: The Definitive Guide

MRP: Rs. 1425

Author: Scott Oaks
Publisher: SPD
Latest edition: 2nd Edition
Online ratings: 4.8/5
Our rating: 4.6/5

Authored by Scott Oaks, this book has been written keeping in mind the struggles and expectations of new inexperienced programmers. Oaks provides an amazing insight into JVM performance tuning and the Java SE code performance.
The book contains instructions on how to measure Java performance and understand exactly why it works the way it does. After reading this book, you’ll have some performance improvement tips up your sleeve.

PROS:

  • Theoretical Explanation

CONS:

  • Purpose specific. I.e – Performance Testing

12. Head First Design Patterns

MRP: Rs. 4,137 [Offer Price: Rs. 3,594]

Author: Eric Freeman & Elisabeth Robson with 2 others
Publisher: O Reilly’
Latest edition: 10th Anniversary Edition
Online ratings: 4.5/5
Our rating: 4.5/5

This book is yet another brain friendly guide co-written by Eric Freeman, Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra and Elisabeth Robson. It’s popular for a humorous and simplistic representation of programming concepts.
While the book does teach a bit of code, it still leaves quite a bit of the logic structures to the reader to figure out. Having said that, it explains design patterns with examples. As the reader progresses through the book, they find underlying answers and the patterns that lead back to the design principles.

PROS:

  • Design Pattern concepts covered in detail

CONS:

  • Need previous knowledge on Java programming

13. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

MRP: Rs.1,250 [Offer Price: Rs.680]

Author: Robert C Martin
Publisher: Pearson
Latest edition: 1st Edition
Online ratings: 4.6/5
Our rating: 4.5/5

Robert C. Martin does an excellent job of explaining functions, classes and code smell. Quoted as a critical thinker’s book, it offers the reader the option to use their own programming style and language of choice.
Every point is painstakingly explained until it’s clear and relatable to problems faced by seasoned programmers in their day-to-day coding life.

PROS:

  • Sufficient code examples
  • Helpful tips and tricks with explanation

CONS:

  • Not beginner-friendly

Other Java books

Didn’t get enough of this list? Need some more books? Here are a few bonus books that didn’t quite make the cut, but might be interesting to you. 

14. Core Java

MRP: Rs. 929 [Offer Price: Rs. 870]

Author: Cay S.Horstmann
Publisher: Pearson
Latest edition: 11th Edition
Online ratings: 4.7/5
Our rating: 4.6/5

Co-authored by Cay S. Horstmann and Gary Cornell, this book is ideal for those looking to expand their knowledge in Java programming. With its conversational diction, the book comes packed with a lot of high-level topics of discussion. However, these topics can often digress, thereby making the book long-winded and away from the point.

15. Extreme Java – Concurrency Performance for Java 8

Not exactly a book, but more of a tutorial developed by Dr Heinz Kabutz, this promises to provide the most productive learning experience to those who want to quickly learn and apply Java concepts. The author, Dr Heinz Kabutz, is also the creator of The Java Specialists’ newsletter that aims at keeping professionals up-to-date with all the current developments made in the field.

16. Learn Java in 1 Day: Complete Beginners Guide

MRP: Kindle Edition is available for free

Author: Krishna Rungta
Publisher: Kindle
Latest edition: Kindle Edition
Online ratings: 4.4/5
Our rating: 4.5/5

This book comes in with the unique advantage of being available free of cost. It is a comprehensive guide for beginners, initiating their journey of Java programming. The learners get familiariaed with the various elementary  JAVA coding concepts such as decisions, loops, arrays, methods, variables, lambda expressions, etc.

It even includes a short and crisp introduction to the various Java-supported frameworks. For instance, Java SE8, Java Swing, Java Oracle, Java Eclipse, and so on. This book also links learners to additional resources, guidance, and tutorials for further reference.

Every chapter in this book comprises a handful of “items” exhibited as brief, standalone essays for Java Web Development. It renders accurate insights to Java platform subtleties, such as Java Virtual Machines, servlets, applets, JavaBeans, and so on.

PROS:

  • The Kindle edition is Free of cost
  • An in-depth explanation of each concept
  • Comes with real-time examples and source-code

CONS:

  • The scope is limited to a few basic concepts only
  • Not recommended for advanced programmers

17. Java: A Step-by-Step Guide for beginners

MRP: Paperback Rs. 1,383 and Kindle Edition is available for free

Author: Daniel Bell
Publisher: Independently Published
Latest edition: Kindle Edition
Online ratings: 5/5
Our rating: 4.6/5

The author, Daniell Bell has especially taken care that the learning should be  Step-by-Step to make it easy for developers. This book offers a wholesome concept and gives an in-depth knowledge of the object-oriented philosophy behind the success of Java.

This is definitely a most wanted book for beginners who intend to learn java and get hands-on knowledge in a short period. It has a very wide scope that begins from the very basic concept of Java which is an installation of JDK and setting up the Java run time environment. It assumes that the person has zero knowledge about programming and Java.

Prerequisites for learning from this book:

  • Install Java Development Kit (JDK) on the computer system
  • A text editor like Notepad, Eclipse or Netbeans.

PROS:

  • The Kindle edition is free of cost
  • Includes an installation guide for Java programmers
  • Teaches to develop a complete and functional Java application on your own
  • All the environment set-up errors are explained in detail
  • Data Scientists and computer programming professionals can also read this

CONS:

  • The scope is limited to a few elementary programming concepts only
  • Not recommended for advanced programmers
  • It assumes that the person has zero knowledge about programming and Java.

18. Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies 5th Edition

MRP: Paperback Rs.2199 and Kindle Edition is available for free

Author: Barry Burd
Publisher: Wiley
Latest edition: Fifth Edition
Online ratings: 4.5/5
Our rating: 4.3/5

Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies written by Dr Barry Burd is highly recommended for Java Beginners. As you start reading the book, you can parallelly write a program by reading examples step-by-step. This book even teaches the steps for installing Eclipse IDE and working with it. The book is 560 pages and includes several hands-on exercises for brushing up your question-solving skills. The language used is elementary and easy-to-understand, it step-by-step depicts how we should put pieces of code together to build logic. It has been updated for Java 9, you may learn the language with samples and the Java toolkit.

PROS:

  • The Kindle edition is Free of cost
  • Includes the steps for installing and managing Eclipse
  • Comes with hands-on exercises for programmers

CONS:

  • It is slightly expensive, in comparison to other books from the domain
  • Not recommended for advanced programmers

19. Java Deep Learning Projects

MRP: Paperback Rs.3,499 and Kindle Edition is available for free

Author: Md. Rezaul Karim
Publisher: Packt Publishing.
Latest edition: Kindle Edition
Online ratings: 4/5
Our rating: 4.1/5

Due to its high popularity, Java is highly preferred by developers for implementing machine learning and deep learning libraries including Deeplearning4j, Spark ML, and RankSys for building and deploying projects based on distributed computing environments.

Java Deep Learning Projects begins by giving an overview of deep learning concepts and then delves into the making of advanced deep learning projects. It is a step by step tutorial for building projects by implementing Deep neural network architectures such as multilayer perceptron, Deep Belief Networks, CNN, LSTM, and Factorisation Machines. This book is not theoretical, towards the completion of the book, you will be able to build your own advanced deep learning systems.

PROS:

  • The Kindle edition is available for free
  • Cover image processing and multimedia analysis
  • Only a few books are available in this domain
  • Gives a clear idea about Natural Language Processing using Java
  • Data Scientists and computer programming professionals can also read this.
  • You can develop applications using NLP, image classification, RL, and GPU processing.

CONS:

  • It is an expensive book, be sure about your interests before making the purchase
  • Not recommended for Java beginner programmers
  • Theoretical Knowledge is a prerequisite as it deals with project-making

20. AI Algorithms, Data Structures, and Idioms in Prolog, Lisp, and Java

MRP: Paperback Rs.4,602

Authors: George F. Luger, and William A. Stubblefield
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Latest edition: Sixth Edition
Online ratings: 3.6/5
Our rating: 3.8/5

This book illustrates how to write down efficient AI algorithms in Lisp, Prolog, and Java. The book typically covers each topic three times in each language. Prime Topics include a simple production-like system based on logic, logic-based learning, and natural language parsing.

In an inference engine based on first-order logic, management of substitutions that might become quite complex, which is often glossed over in AI textbooks. Furthermore, this book covers this aspect, similar to the “Paradigms of AI Programming”, “Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs”, and Winston’s book on Common Lisp.

PROS:

  • Includes the concept of AI programming
  • Based more on practical applications
  • Promotes logical learning, more suitable for advanced programmers

CONS:

  • It is based on AI programming, be particular with the prerequisites
  • Not recommended for Java beginner programmers

21. Mastering Java Machine Learning

MRP: Paperback Rs.3,000 and Kindle edition is Free

Authors: Dr Uday Kamath, Krishna Choppella
Publisher: Packt Publishing.
Latest edition: Kindle Edition
Online ratings: 3.5/5
Our rating: 3.5/5

This book serves two purposes, it teaches you both Java Programming Languages and AI Programming. It acts as practical addition to the theoretical books written by the same authors. It familiarises you with the array of advanced techniques in machine learning, which focuses on the various machine learning algorithms such as classification, clustering, anomaly detection, stream learning, active learning, semi-supervised learning, probabilistic graph modelling, text mining, deep learning, and big data batch and stream machine learning. By reading this book, you will be able to understand the tools and techniques used for building powerful machine learning models for solving data science problems coming from any domain. 

PROS:

  • The kindle edition is available for free
  • Recommended for AI and ML experts

CONS:

  • It is an expensive book, be sure about your interests before making the purchase
  • Not recommended for Java beginner programmers
  • Theoretical Knowledge is a prerequisite as it deals with project-making

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the best book to learn Java for beginners?

Java: The Complete Reference by Herbert Schildt is considered to be the best book to learn Java for beginners.

Can I learn Java in 15 Days?

You can learn the syntax of Java in 15 days, however, understanding the language and applying it may take longer.

What is the best programming book for beginners?

There are plenty of books mentioned in the above article, you can pick any of those and begin. However, for programming purposes you should stick to online blogs and articles as well.

Is Effective Java good for beginners?

Effective Java is more suited for advanced developers. Beginners can choose to head first Java instead.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned list contains all the essential information regarding the 21 Best Java Books for Beginners & Experts. Even if you are a Java programming expert you will definitely find something very engaging and distinct in any of these books.

The future references, algorithms, pseudo-codes, block diagrams, source codes mentioned in these books will surely assist you in your future Java and Spring Boot projects or competitive coding concepts. Start with any one book, but gradually you study multiple books to get a proper idea about Java programming for beginners.

Always go through the content page before you begin reading any Java books, you must be aware that the contents of the book are relevant for you. If you are an expert, go for advanced books. Before purchasing the book, iterate through the pdf, so that you get a proper idea of its contents, alignment, readability quotient and difficulty level.

Apart from Java programming for beginners, there are numerous books written about Advanced Java modules, Spring Boot and hibernation, you can go through them as well so that you can create a complete real-time project using Backend Java frameworks.

Java is one of the most popular languages, it finds wide application in Android development and server development, learning Java in-depth will definitely get you a lucrative placement.

To learn more about Java, take a look at Coding Ninjas courses. And to know more about the best books to gain knowledge of JavaScripts, check out our blog’s section.

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