Good Java tutorials

Hello everyone. I just found out that I need to learn Java before I go to grad school. Does anyone know a good website, compiler, and book to help learn this language. I know C++ and VB and am hoping Java will not be to hard to pick up. Thank you in advance
theguz

Java's syntax is similar to C++, however I hope you're well-trained in object-oriented design. Java lives off of OO stuff...

I've used an early incarnation of this book to learn Java. I found it quite helpful.

The Java compiler can be found at Sun's Java site.
All of the Java API's are there too... excellent resource!

Thanks for the info. Hopefully it should'nt be too difficult to get a basic understanding of the language.

Bruce Eckel has written a book "Thinking in Java". There are a lot of websites where you can download this book in html or pdf format.
Here's one website where you can download the pdf format
http://www.planetpdf.com/developer/article.asp?ContentID=6632

Now about learning Java : if you're comfortable with HTML, you might want to consider building java web applications. That way, you do not have to learn about the swing classes of java and still make complete applications.
In that case you should take a look at Marty Hall's "core servlets and java server pages". The first edition of this book can be downloaded at http://www.coreservlets.com/.

Another excellent book is the "Apache Tomcat Bibled" from Eaves, Jones & Godfrey. The title is a bit misleading since it's about more than just Tomcat, the free servlet container.
It explains how to download and install Java, Eclipse, MySQL, Tomcat, ... and it gives you an overview of the MVC or Model-View-Controller design pattern. As a surplus, you get a web application built following the MVC.

hi gertcuppens,
do you know a site that book is availble for download (free or payed )or buy the hard copy.because i searched for the book but couldnt find.
and i'm also learning java/jsp for web based applications.

thanks

Amazon.com shows the cover of the "Apache Tomcat Bible" at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764526065/102-5509292-4252912?v=glance.

The preface in PDF format can be viewed at http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/65/07645260/0764526065.pdf.

The website of the book is http://www.wiley.com/legacy/compbooks/eaves/.
But there you can only download the sources showed in the book. Not a PDF format of the book.
I'm afraid you will have to look for amazon or other e-bookshops.