Java by Comparison by Simon Harrer, Jörg Lenhard, Linus Dietz
I’m not a Java developer - anymore - yet I find that a big part of this book can be useful for any junior programmer. Maybe not only for them, as the book has elements that are always useful to be reminded to. In addition, it gives you ideas on how and what to teach to less experienced people. But I ran forward too fast.
Java by Comparison promises you to become a Java craftsman through 70 examples. Of course, you will not become a craftsperson just by reading this book, you’ll have to practice. A lot. But this book is a good start.
It indeed provides something like 70 examples organized in the most readable way I have ever seen.
There is a bad example always on the left side and a better one on the next page, so you’ll always see the two together, you don’t have to turn pages. It’s extremely easy to digest as such.
Of course, this structure also has some downsides, one is that each explanation is relatively short. Too short sometimes, in my opinion. But at least people won’t get bored and it’s an obvious price for this organization.
The examples are organized around 9 different topics including ones such as naming, comments, exception handling, design, and a sneak peek on what you should learn next.
As you can see, it’s really diverse. You’ll not be a master of any of these topics, but you can level up your knowledge sufficient enough to write much better code.
Anyway, you cannot become a pro from one step to the other. And that’s an idea of the examples in the book as well. Sometimes an example that was on the right side will show on the left in a few pages later. Because, as the authors say, a better solution is not necessarily the good one. There might be several steps leading to an optimal result - if there is any such as thing optimal.
One thing I missed is further readings at the end of each chapter, but probably it’s due to the lack of space.
All in all, I liked Java by Comparison a lot! I wish I had one like that when I started my developer career. And I’m pretty sure my former colleagues would have wished for the same!
Happy reading!