Getting back up to speed on Java after 8-10 years

Question

The last time I did any serious Java coding was back around the turn of the century. In the mean time I've been doing a lot of other stuff, most recently c (embedded stuff) and c++. I'm starting on a new assignment in a couple of months and it will most likely be all-Java-all-the-time. I don't much info other than that I will be dealing with JBoss for some applications.

So, I would like some suggestions on books/site/whatever to at a minimum get me buzzword-compliant and hopefully give me a good handle on the state-of-the-art in the world of Java.

Thanks, Cesar

Answer 1

JBoss suggests Java EE, so I suggest Mastering EJB 3. Given your background I doubt you need to do much on the Java SE stuff.

Answer 2

For getting a general intro into Java EE, I would recommend Java Enterprise in a Nutshell. This gives an overview of most of the relevant technologies, so you get an idea about what's what, and have a base to decide where to dig deeper.

Also JBoss in Action.

Answer 3

I would take a look at The Spring Framework, it is used in almost every Java project I know of. Also, learn the new (now old though) language features introduced since last time you worked with Java, most of them introduced in Java 1.5 (generics, autoboxing etc).

Answer 4

Read through the JDK release notes / new features list for each release since then (at least, for 6 and for 1.5). Basic language functionality has improved. I can't remember 2000 exactly, but generics, autoboxing, annotation, enhancements to Swing, the Collections framework, instrumentation, for (obj:objs), and asserts are all language enhancements that jump to mind--and they are all detailed in release notes.

That'll at least get you through 2007 or so. ;) Past that, start looking into the frameworks mentioned elsewhere, and have a peek at the upcoming Java proposals for new features.

Answer 5

I was in a similar situation a year ago, and this book was the most useful: JBoss At Work. You will start from a simple web page, and then build toward a WebService with JPA, JMS, JTA, EJB etc. So you really code instead of just read -- it helped me to get to speed very quickly. Highly recommendable.

The only downside is that AFAIK, there have been no 2nd edition, and a lot has changed since then... But I still recommend it.

For changes in JavaSE (particularly those new things since Java5), Effective Java 2nd Edition. Period.

Answer 6

An overview of jboss related projects you find here: http://www.jboss.org/projects/matrix

I'm afraid that you will be buried in information. You should find out what technologies are used for your assignment. I would suggest a roadmap like that:

Presentation Layer

• JSF and Richfaces (which includes Ajax4jsf)
• JSP
• Seam

Business Layer

• EJB (Message Queues,TimerBeans as well as annotations have been added)
• Webservices JAX-WS, XML-Binding JAXB
• Java Connector Architecture (JCA)
• Rule Engines

Persistance

• Hibernate is commonly used as an implementation of JPA

JbossCache could also be important if it's about performance

Build System

• ant
• maven

Testing Frameworks

SOA would be a another complex topic

Hope this helps

Answer 7

It may help immensely to download eclipse with spring tools and start playing with some sample applications.

Answer 8

+1 on Effective Java. Best money you'll spend on a Java book, for sure! Other than that, I'd encourage you to stay away from as many acronyms as possible... Most of them are only good for making sure the guy after you has plenty of work to do...