Effective Java

by Joshua Bloch

Most of the rules in this book derive from a few fundamental principles. Clarity and simplicity are of paramount importance. The user of a component should never be surprised by its behavior. Components should be as small as possible but no smaller. (As used in this book, the term component refers to any reusable software element, from an individual method to a complex framework consisting of multiple packages.) Code should be reused rather than copied. The dependencies between components should be kept to a minimum. Errors should be detected as soon as possible after they are made, ideally at compile time.