Self Learning of Java?

Question

I m planning for a career change, In the mean time, i thinking of learning java by myself and then later move on to j2ee & j2me. By doing. Lot of people tells me that all great coders/programmers are self taught, out of passion, they become so competent. so to ask you
1. can i improve myself competent level, industrial level kind of programmer, through self learning?
2. what is the book or resource or material i need, that will help me in learning java.
3. where can i find resources to become a expert coder, where can i find motivation for projects (i know already so many projects established, but since i am starter, i love to develop on my own way.)
4. What is the future market for java, say in the next 8 -10 years ( I heard .NET is getting into the market, esp peneterating the java market, also easy for programmer)
5. I am planning to read the following title on by one
1. software Engineering by pressman
2. JAVA by Deitel & Deitel
3. software testing, CRC Press...
thank u

Answer 1

I learned Java from Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java, 3rd edition, which is a free download on the Internet. I also found Beanshell to be an essential tool, and the official Java Tutorials an excellent reference (no idea why they are called "tutorials"). But the most important thing is to develop actual applications. Look around for ideas.

About becoming a competent programmer, that only comes from hard work. You'll want to learn many languages (with different paradigms!) and write all kinds of applications. You should also try and learn the best practices. Off the top of my head, I can recommend Eric Raymond's The Art of Unix Programming (no, it's not about Java specifically).

As for Java's future, who cares. Most programming languages for the Java platform are also available for .NET, and vice versa. Besides, all technologies become obsolete sooner or later, so you'll want to learn several anyway. Don't limit yourself.

Answer 2

thanks for ur question. i am also a present java programming student that have came from C++. java is a portable programming language that is very powerful and modern. it does things like networking , database connectivity, etc very easy that are must in todays software development. so u said that u are new to java. i have about six months programming experience in java. it simply made programming very easy to develop and debug. java has many tools like java beans. i would prefer one more book namely Core Java part 1 and 2 By cornwell. Also, never forget to visit the java site. that has latest update about java. learning java personally will indeed make u professional but u should better take help of professional if u can.
go on with ur java practice. good luck