Beginning Java Programming: The Object-Oriented Approach

Book Preface

Congratulations! By picking up this book you have made the first step in your voyage toward learning Java. Java is a programming language with a long history, starting with its inception in 1991, when it was still named “Oak,” through the first public release (Java 1.0) in 1995 and the newly released Java 8. Its “write once, run anywhere” approach, together with robust language features and numerous libraries led to a spectacular adoption rate. Java is one of the most popular languages in use today, and has been especially successful in enterprise and business environments.

Note, however, that Java is not without its criticism (no programming language is). You might have picked upon the often-repeated criticism that Java is verbose, unsecure, suffering from a slow release cycle, and that it is fading in popularity compared to the interest in new, more exciting languages (Ruby, Erlang, and Haskell, to name a few) by the computer science and programmer communities. The reality, however, tells a different story. Java remains widely taught in schools and universities and is regarded as the language of choice in many organizations. The introduction of Java 7 in 2011 made many tasks simpler, and the availability of many seasoned and stable libraries, tools, and feature-complete IDEs is unmatched by the ecosystem found around other languages. In 2014, Java 8 introduced lambda expressions to streamline code and a reengineered date and time interface that simplifies and improves the internationalization of applications. Java’s strong architectural foundations make the language ideally suited for both newcomers and experienced programmers who want to expand their knowledge of Object-Oriented Programming.

Before reaching the end of this book, you will agree that being proficient in Java is a strong skill to possess indeed. We aim to get you started and up to speed as quickly as possible, without making sacrifices in terms of depth and breadth of topics. The goal is not to guide you in simply adding yet another (or first) language to your repertoire, but also to familiarize you with Java’s underlying approach toward robust and structured Object-Oriented Programming. As you will see, Java’s “verbosity” makes it ideally suited to teach programming best practices in an explicit manner. Providing step-by-step explanations together with many examples—inspired by real-life environments rather than toy exercises—will help you quickly appreciate Java’s design and usefulness, and learn that programming in Java can even be great fun!

HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

This book is mostly designed as a hands-on tutorial and tries to keep you practicing and trying out new concepts as quickly and often as possible. As mentioned before, you will find Try It Outs throughout this book where you will find step-by-step instructions for working with Java.

You will notice that we alternate between chapters that are more theoretical in nature (such as what Object-Oriented Programming is) and chapters that are more practical (such as how to read in a file and do something with it). As such, the preferred way to go through this book when you’re reading it the first time is to work your way from beginning to end. Think of this book as a tour through Java. We do not visit every nook and cranny—you don’t need to examine each and every small detail—but you do want to get the big picture, enabling you to get proficient with Java as quickly as possible without taking dangerous shortcuts by explaining concepts in a haphazardly manner. Whenever you encounter a practical chapter that seems less useful, however, you are free to skip it and return to it later. That said, we have clearly separated the chapters to match a specific set of topics, so readers revisiting this book will have no trouble immediately navigating to the right spot.

Given the nature of programming, it is unavoidable that you will run across some examples in earlier chapters that includes a concept that will be explained in a later section. We always indicate these forward references in a clear manner and tell you “not to worry about this until Chapter X.” Trust us on this; these elements will be covered later.

As you proceed, remember the best way to learn is to try out things on your own, extend projects, and create new ones. The Try It Out exercises provide examples throughout the text for you to start programming with a lot of guidance. As your knowledge and confidence build, try creating your own simple programs to complete tasks that are interesting for you. This way, you will put the concepts you’ve learned to use and start to see how Java can work for you.