Murach's Java SE 6: Training & Reference
Developers often tell me they wish they'd found our Java book first, before  spending time and money on others. Here are 4 of the reasons why I believe  this book will work equally well for you:#1: The first six chapters get you off to a fast startBy the time you complete these chapters, you'll be writing bulletproof,  object-oriented applications with business classes and objects. These  chapters work well for the complete beginner. But they also get the  experienced developer up-to-speed fast.#2: The class summaries help you master the Java API and save you hours  of researchAlthough most books present dozens of coding examples that illustrate the  use of some Java classes, they don't try to summarize all of the classes,  constructors, and methods that you'll use the most. Our book does both. For  instance, to learn how to use the LinkedList class, you'll first see a  summary of its primary constructors and methods. Then, you'll see coding  examples that show you how you can apply those constructors and methods.  This can save you hundreds of hours of research over the course of the  book.#3: Chapters 7 and 8 show you how to use inheritance, interfaces, and  polymorphism in a way that is both practical and understandableYou won't find any toy applications or cat and dog objects in these  chapters. Instead, you'll study practical examples that show you how to use  inheritance, polymorphism, interfaces, type-safe enumerations, and the  factory pattern in business applications. This at last takes the mystery  out of object-oriented programming. And we just haven't seen this done  right in any other book.#4: The paired-pages format lets you set your own paceMurach books have a distinctive format, where each two-page spread presents  a single topic. Both beginning and experienced developers find that this  format makes it easy to focus on the information they need, whether they're  using the book for training or reference. To see how this works, you can  download sample chapters for free from the Murach web site.