Java Shooters PDF - Alpha release

Java Shooters is an introduction to the Java programming language. The examples and concepts are based upon JSE 1.6.

About the name, it is called Shooters because like the alcoholic drink that is typically drank in 1.5 ounces shot-glass, the key concepts are meant to be 'drank' quickly in one fell swoop. It is not meant to be a lengthy or exhaustive introduction to the Java programming language. It is meant to be read as a first book in Java, without the terse and cryptic explanations of the concepts that usually trips up beginning programmers.

Java Shooters is not a Nutshell book, I did not list all the possible API calls (nor was it my intention to do so). I also downplayed the edge conditions of a lot of things in Java, i.e . class fundamentals , conditions when the double equal not work should with Strings but it does anyway due to some concepts about pools---things like that, I left out. If you need (or want) to find out things like that, may I point you to the The Java Language Specification (it is on the Bibliography) or an SCJP preparation book perhaps.

The purpose of the material is to be up and running as quickly as possible, coding only the happy thoughts of Java programming. I did put some cautions and warnings when I think that when I think that it could be a huge blunder to ignore it. This approach allowed for a leaner and shorter material that will (hopefully) enable a beginning programmer to pick up the Java language. This material was originally intended to be read by programmers who would like to go to Android application development but lack the necessary Java foundations. That was precisely the reason why eliminated some aspects of Java programming that I thought would not be necessary for Android.

Java Shooters has been released early, with missing chapters actually, because the material needs feedback. I will be happy to hear ways on how to improve this. In Agile software development, there is a concept of release-early, release-frequent—I thought that might work for Java-Shooters as well.

Lastly, Java Shooters is free. It is licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. You can use it for any purpose except commercial ones. If you do find a use for the material, I would appreciate if you drop me a note.