After reading head first java

[Henry Pastor]

Hello. I just finished reading head first java and tested what I learned by solving all the exercises I found on this site (Cattle drive)except servlets problem.I also tried exercises I found on the internet and I think I did pretty well. Now how can I build my skill even more?Can you give me books that is more in depth/more advance that can take my skill to the next level?I really want to be a good java developer. Thanks

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

Henry Pastor wrote:I really want to be a good java developer.

Well. here is my 2 cents ...

1. read more java books
* Thinking in Java by Bruce
* CoreJava by Gay Horstmann
* Big Java by Gay Horstmann
--> then go slightly deep. ie,
* Effective Java by Joshua Bloch
* Java Puzzler by Joshua Bloch
--> then concentrate package specific stuff , ie,
* Generic Java and Collection
* Java I/O
* Java Concurrency in practice...

2. practice more ....

3. *importantly* keep your ambition which I have quoted.

[Winston Gutkowski]

Henry Pastor wrote:Can you give me books that is more in depth/more advance that can take my skill to the next level? I really want to be a good java developer.

Personally, I'd start with this one.

The other thing I'd do is write a lot of programs. Books will get you so far, but there's no substitute for sleepless nights and banging your head against the terminal a bit (although in these days of TFT screens it probably doesn't leave quite such a dent as it used to).

Winston

[Henry Pastor]

Thank you so much. I'll start with thinking in Java. And how can I practice my skill more? The projects from this site is where I really practiced what I have learned:
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/78802-martyr2s-mega-project-ideas-list/

But my problem was I can't solve many of the problems there because most of them is beyond what I learned from HF java. So thats why I asked this question. Thanks!

[Junilu Lacar]

Start small. Learn principles of object-oriented programming and design. Learn about test-driven development (TDD).

"The jury is in -- TDD works! TDD is a powerful discipline that helps you organize your code, your tests, and your time." -- Robert C. Martin, a.k.a. "Uncle Bob"

Read Uncle Bob's "Clean Code" and "Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns, and Practices" books.

Commit to Software Craftsmanship

IMO, principles and values are very important in becoming a good developer, no matter what language you use.

[fred rosenberger]

Project Euler has a lot of fun, interesting problems you can look at. They are fun to code and give you some interesting things to think about, although you could code them in any language.

I've done several problems in each of Java, Perl, and C/C++. Not as a test of which language is 'best', but just to hone my skills in each one.

[Winston Gutkowski]

Junilu Lacar wrote:Commit to Software Craftsmanship

Thought I always was. But I signed it anyway.

Winston

[Henry Pastor]

I signed it too. Where can I learn test driven development?

[Junilu Lacar]

James Shore has an excellent blog and a series of posts on TDD.