Effective Java: A Must Have
August 30th, 2006
Every Java developer must own a copy of Effective Java: Programming Language Guide by Joshua Bloch. If you haven't read this book and you think you're a good Java developer, think again. This book challenges me to be a better coder every day.
The layout of the book is extremely easy to follow and reference. The individual concepts are grouped into "Items" and those items are grouped into topics that are the chapters of the book. At the very least, every programmer needs to read the first 18 items. I'll give you a brief example of the power of this book.
Item 7: Obey the general contract when overriding
equals
Every Java developer tends to think he/she knows when and how to override the Object.equals method. This item explains the core concepts of the method and when and how to implement it. It's over 10 pages of explanation with code examples. I have used the techniques that Josh explained in almost every class I've written since I read this item. Before I read this book almost all of my equals methods failed to follow the general contract.
I could go on all day, but I know this isn't the place for that, so I really do hope that if you're a Java developer, you will own this book if you don't already. The full table of contents can be seen on the book's site.
