Are you a student trying to learn the Java language or aprofessional seeking to expand your skill set? If you are feeling abit overwhelmed by the breadth of the Java platform, here are a few suggested learning paths to help you get the most from your Javalearning experience.

---

New To Java

The following trails are most useful forbeginners:

• Getting Started – Anintroduction to Java technology and lessons on installing Javadevelopment software and using it to create a simple program.
• Learning the Java Language– Lessons describing essential concepts such as classes,objects, inheritance, datatypes, generics, and packages.
• Essential Java Classes– Lessons on exceptions, basic input/output, concurrency,regular expressions, and the platform environment.

Building On TheFoundation

Ready to dive deeper into the technology?See the following topics:

• Collections –Lessons on using and extending the Java Collections Framework.
• Lambda Expressions: Learn how and why to use Lambda Expressions in your applications.
• Aggregate Operations: Explore how Aggregate Operations, Streams, and Lambda Expressions work together to provide powerful filtering capabilities.
• Packaging Programs In JARFiles – Lesson on creating and signing JAR files.
• Internationalization – Anintroduction to designing software so that it can be easily beadapted (localized) to various languages and regions.
• Reflection – An API thatrepresents ("reflects") the classes, interfaces, and objects in thecurrent Java Virtual Machine.
• Security – Javaplatform features that help protect applications from malicioussoftware.
• JavaBeans – The Javaplatform's component technology.
• The Extension Mechanism –How to make custom APIs available to all applications running onthe Java platform.
• Generics – Anenhancement to the type system that supports operations on objectsof various types while providing compile-time type safety.

Cherish the Client?

If you want to focus on developing Java based desktop solutionsand rich Internet applications, see the following topics:

• Get Started with JavaFX– A collection of sample applications that's designed to get you started with common JavaFX tasks
• Get Started with Scene Builder– Shows you, step-by-step, how to create a simple issue-tracking application using the JavaFX Scene Builder tool.
• Creating a GUI with Swing– A comprehensive introduction to GUI creation on the Javaplatform.
• Deployment – How topackage applications and applets using JAR files, and deploy themusing Java Web Start and Java Plug-in.
• 2D Graphics – How to displayand print 2D graphics in applications.
• Full-Screen ExclusiveMode API – How to write applications that more fullyutilize the user's graphics hardware.

Fervor Over Server!

If you are interested in acquiring skills important formiddleware, server-side, or web application development, see thefollowing trails:

• JDBC Database Access –Introduces an API for connectivity between the Java applicationsand a wide range of databases and a data sources.
• JMX – Java ManagementExtensions provides a standard way of managing resources such asapplications, devices, and services.
• JNDI – Java Naming andDirectory Interface enables accessing the Naming and DirectoryService such as DNS and LDAP.
• JAXP – Introduces the JavaAPI for XML Processing (JAXP) 1.4 technology.
• RMI – The Remote MethodInvocation API allows an object to invoke methods of an objectrunning on another Java Virtual Machine.
• Concurrency– The Java platform has APIs to help you developmulti-threaded programs.