[Burn_Cycle]

Hey, I appolagize for making a lame topic for you guys, but I am very interested in computer programming. I am anxious to learn and teach myself. There is one problem, I am not sure which book would be the best to get for an absolute beginner. I went to my book store that i have here in my town, there was one book "Java for Dummies". Thats not going to work for me.

Really the biggest thing to me is glossary, explanation, and most importantly exercises to do. I learn by doing rather than reading. So it is key for the book to have exercises for everything new they add into the lesson.

So if you would list some books/a book to guide me it will be greatly appreciated! It is crucial that i have a good book becasue i dont have anyone that will be guiding me. Thanks again!
Johnny

[hillbillybob]

Check out O'Reilly's Head first Java....Anything by Thomson Course Technologies is pretty good. Check out Safari books online, or purchase from someplace like amazon.com

[The Future]

Java Concepts by Cay Horstmann. It's probably the best Java book I've read/had. It has dozens of exercises each chapter, as well as two big "programming projects" for each chapter to summarize the skills you should have learned. The projects are aimed for a classroom environment, meaning a team effort, but they are do-able by yourself.

[Fastvan67]

I wanna learn too.