Java Bookshelf

On this page you will find what I think are the most valuable resources for Java developers available. First a list of books every Java software developer should know (no excuses). It's amazing how old some of these are and still there are people around not knowing them. Next are my favourite newsletters (electronic journals), which I read regularly. Last I give you a (probably subjective) list of some of the best development tools available, which are all free.

Books

• The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt, David Thomas (1999): This is no Java book, but about how being one of the best developers, called pragmatic programmers.
• UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modelling Language by Martin Fowler (3rd Ed. 2003): A short and nicely written introduction to OOA/OOD and the UML.
• Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides (1994): The bible of patterns, also called the Gang of Four (GOF) book.
• Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck (1999): Refactoring to clean up bad code. And your code will be bad, given some time of evolution...
  
• Test Driven Development: By Example by Kent Beck (2002): A really easy introduction into test driven development, nicely written - you will become test-infected...
• Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl (3rd Ed. 2006): The only book available on the topic, really giving a deep understanding of Regular Expressions.

Books on the Java Language

• Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel (4th Ed. 2006): The best book to start with the Java language. Basics are covered in detail to build a robust fundamental base. Available for free download from Bruce Eckel's website.
• Effective Java Programming Language Guide by Joshua Bloch (2001): The best book on the Java language. It features 57 items any good Java developer has to know.
  
• Java 2 Performance and Idiom Guide by Craig Larman, Rhett Guthrie (1999): Although this book is outdated and pure Java 1.1/1.2, it documents useful techniques and best practices.
• Java Performance Tuning by Jack Shirazi (2nd Ed. 2003): A wonderful book about something most worried about in Java - performance.
• Java Puzzlers: Traps, Pitfalls, and Corner Cases by Joshua Bloch and Neal Gafter (2005): Although I was only able to answer 49 out of the 95 questions correctly, I love this book :-)
  

Newsletters and Sites

• IBM developerWorks newsletter: technology edition by IBM developerWorks
• Java Performance Tuning News by Jack Shirazi
• The Java Specialists' Newsletter by Dr. Heinz M. Kabutz
• Java Examples from The Java Developers Almanac: Code examples to copy and paste into your programs.

Tools

• Eclipse IDE: free integrated development environment (IDE) to create your Java code.
• JUnit: Then test your code.
• PMD: Source Code Analysis - Analyse your code for potential problems.
• Apache Ant: Build and package your code.
• Anthill Build Server: to daily build your code because Daily Builds Are Your Friend.
• Apache Tomcat: Reliable servlet container for your web components code.