Are there any good sources for learning Java as an experienced C++ programmer?

[Jocko Homo]

I'm an experienced C++ programmer looking to learn Java SE 7. Because of the similarities of the language, you'd think there would be a tutorial out there suited for such people but I'm having trouble finding one. I've looked at a couple of Java tutorials that are tailored to C++ programmers but, from what little I do know of Java, they all seem to be out of date...

Does anyone happen to know of a good up-to-date Java tutorial for C++ programmers?
Thank you!

 

[chiro]

Hey Jocko Homo.

I had to learn Java a very long time ago, and my background is in C/C++ and Assembler just so you know where I am coming from.

I think if you have a fair bit of experience in C++, Java will be an easy transition.

The biggest obstacles I see for you is memory management especially for how things are created and deleted (this is a big change) and how they are represented, the keyword differences for OOP, some other differences with inheritance, and apart from other syntax differences, the flow-control (you can't do function pointers quite like you can in C++) and the actual API.

Any decent references book that allows you to just go to these particular issues will do the job in my opinion, and there should be tonnes of things out there that are well organized (e.g. chapters are contained in a way that cover what you need).

I don't think you really need something highly customized: you probably have enough experience to have a gut sense of what you need to look for. The issues I stated above are the ones that I can remember off the top of my head, and I did Java a very long time ago, so if there are fundamental changes like in syntax and other features since then, they would have to be taken into account.

 

[bcbwilla]

There are many books titled something like "Java for C++ programmers" which would probably be helpful.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend any specific books, because I'm actually going in the reverse direction :) I've recently picked up "C for Java programmers" and "C++ for Java programmers", and they are very helpful because they focus on simply the differences between the languages, without wasting time covering general concepts that are the same in most languages.

 

[AlephZero]

Have you looked at http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/index.html ?

They are certainly up to date, accurate, and concise. They don't assume you know any Java, but they do usually assume you already know how to program and you know what you want to do.

For example, compare http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/collections/interfaces/index.html with the analogous classes in the standard C++ library...