Sams Teach Yourself JAVA 6 in 21 Days , Fifth Edition continues to be one of the most popular, best-selling Java tutorials on the market. Written by an expert technical writer, it has been acclaimed for its clear and personable writing, for its extensive use of examples, and for its logical and complete organization. This new edition of the book maintains and improves upon all these qualities, while updating and revising the material to cover the latest developments in Java and to expand the coverage of core Java programming topics. In addition to updates, entire new chapters/sections on XML Web Services, JDBC, and RSS feeds are included.
Rogers Cadenhead is a ServiceNow developer who has created applications in insurance and customer service. He is also the author of more than a dozen books on computer programming and web publishing, including the Sams Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days series, and the chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, the group that publishes the RSS 2.0 specification.
Teach Yourself Java 6 in 21 Days is clear and well-structured. It does a good job of the teaching part, but I can't imagine finishing this in 21 days without devoting 8 hours every day to the task. After finishing the book I went back through and worked on the supplemental assignments, which helped clarify some concepts I hadn't absorbed. I recommend it as a strong intro to Java, particularly for people with some prior programming experience.