On Java 8

Bruce Eckel

Jun 2017 · MindView LLC

About this ebook

Version 2.0 released December 2021. See Introduction for details. Full information and links to supplements can be found at https://www.OnJava8.com.

The book is maintained here only to support previous buyers. If you are a new buyer, please go to https://leanpub.com/onjava8.

The examples are freely available at https://github.com/BruceEckel/OnJava8-Examples.

On Java 8 is only available as an eBook. Again, I recommend buying it through https://leanpub.com/onjava8.

This book is far too large to publish as a single print volume, and my intent has always been to only publish it as an eBook. Color syntax highlighting for code listings is, alone, worth the cost of admission. Searchability, font resizing or text-to-voice for the vision-impaired, the fact you can always keep it with you---there are so many benefits to eBooks it's hard to name them all.

Anyone buying this book needs a computer to run the programs and write code, and the eBook reads nicely on a computer (I was also surprised to discover that it even reads tolerably well on a phone). However, the best reading experience is on a tablet computer. Tablets are inexpensive enough you can now buy one for less than you'd pay for an equivalent print version of this book (which, note, does not exist). It's much easier to read a tablet in bed (for example) than trying to manage the pages of a physical book, especially one this big. When working at your computer, you don't have to hold the pages open when using a tablet at your side. It might feel different at first, but I think you'll find the benefits far outweigh the discomfort of adapting.

The Leanpub version has a free sample including a complete table of contents.

Ratings and reviews

This is really a great book for Java beginners. But would the press add an index to the book, please? The primary reason is that lots of terminology could be look up, and in practice I found it's quite helpful to have an terminology index available.

I don't really understand the negative review but from my perspective this is on of the best Java books that ever have been written. It teaches you not only Java language but also OOP design, design patterns and algorithms at the same time. Constant usage of analogies is very helpful for better understanding the concepts. I have wanted to study / read this book since I have got my first Java job because I felt that I didn't knew Java as much as I could which generally results in worse productivity. But now, after 2 hours / 4 day / 4 months, I have just finished this book and I am sure that it will payoff in the future because of learning a lot of new Java stuff, which makes be better programmer. Thank you, Bruce!

Easy to read and understand for a person with basic understanding on Java like me. Some text truncated when opened in Adobe Digital Edition, so I suggest to read this book using Calibre.

About the author

 Bruce Eckel is the author of the multi-award-winning books Thinking in Java and Thinking in C++.