4 Resources That Every Java Programmer Should Know

Details: Written by Nam Ha Minh; Last Updated on 29 June 2019 | Print Email

Imagine you’re a beginner or a young student who desire to learn Java programming from the official and authoritative sources. And you need an experienced person to show you where to start. So I’m here today to help you.

Well, there are thousands of sites related to Java programming. But to start, you just need to remember 4 sites which I’m about to tell you now.

1. Java Trademark Site

The first site is java.com - the official site for Java trademark. On this site you can verify whether your computer having Java installed or not and download the latest version of Java. I usually tell my customers go to this website in order to check, download and install Java.

Java dot com

java.com also introduces some interesting teaching tools like Alice and Greenfoot which allow students or young people to begin learning Java in a fun and easy way with 3D graphics environment. Those are worth exploring.

2. Java Technology Site

The second site is java.oracle.com - the official site for Java technology. It’s the ultimate, complete and authoritative source of technical information about Java.

I often check this site to get updates or download installations and libraries for all Java editions: Java for desktop (Java SE); Java for enterprise (Java EE); Java for mobile (Java ME), etc.

Java at oracle dot com

As a Java programmer, you should visit this site regularly to keep yourself up to date with Java technology.

3. The Java Tutorials Site

The third site is The Java Tutorial series. Oracle (the company owns Java) has its own staffs who are dedicated to write tutorials for beginners. There are two very well-known series:

The Java Tutorial series: you can find step-by-step tutorials for learning everything about Java core and Swing to build Java desktop applications. Here’s the link:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial

The Java EE Tutorial series: here you can learn everything about Java enterprise such as JavaServer Pages, Servlet… to build Java web applications. Here’s the link:

http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/7/tutorial

The Java Tutorial

I like these tutorials a lot because they help me in the early days of my Java learning. Whenever I need to learn new features, I always start from those tutorials.

4. The Java Documentation Site

The fourth site is the Javadocs.As a Java programmer, you will definitely need to check the Javadocs (or Java API) frequently to understand what a class means or what a method does. For example: checking the Collections class and its utility methods. Here are the links:

Java SE Javadocs: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api
Java EE Javadocs: http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/7/api

I always bookmark these URLs in my browser for quick reference. I also saved several copies of each on my computer so I can access the API whenever I need it. Each copy is for a specific version, such as JDK 6, JDK 8, Java EE 6, Java EE 7…

Javadoc site

My friend, so far I have shared with you the 4 sites that I think every Java programmer should know and visit. Sometimes you can visit java.com or java.oracle.com to check for new stuffs. But the Java Tutorials series are recommended for everyone.

And the Javadocs sites should be bookmarked or better, downloaded and saved as copies for quick reference.

For me, the Javadocs are the documents I read most frequently in my Java programming career. And I think you too (or will too).

Happy learning!

About the Author:

Nam Ha Minh is certified Java programmer (SCJP and SCWCD). He began programming with Java back in the days of Java 1.4 and has been passionate about it ever since. You can connect with him on Facebook and watch his Java videos on YouTube.