Originally posted by rachael carr:
I have the sierra book, its over facing and although good - reading from cover to cover for certification and learning the language all at once - how likely???!!!
Why not? It's a very good book, that will help you not just to get certified, but also to effectively learn and understand many (somewhat obscure) aspects of the
Java language, in a very easy-to-read and pleasant way.
The only book that I had (partially) read before buying Sierra/Bates SCJP book was Bruce Eckel's "Thinking in Java". Years later, these two books are still the only J2SE programming books I've ever read. And Sierra/Bates is the only J2SE programming book that I read "from cover to cover", and I did it twice.
Fortunately (or not
), I can learn a lot only from reading, I don't really need very much hands-on experimentation.