Hi All,

I'm doing some research on the title of this post and thought I would get the community's opinion. For the last 4 years, almost the entirety of my development career, I've been writing apps and services in fairly low-level C/C++ code. Recently, a colleague asked if I was interested in moving to his company to do server-side Java/PHP development (ironically, with a 30% increase in pay just in case you were thinking “why?”). I've written more LOCs of ASM than I have Java and PHP combined.

I haven't really touched either language since school, and even then I'm sure I was “doing it wrong”. I'm looking for a couple of good books on each to teach the nuances of the languages, preferably with an emphasis on server-side development in the case of Java (if it matters).

If anyone has recommendations, I'm all ears and would love to hear them!

P.S. Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place … it seems good to me

Hi!

I don't know the first thing about PHP, but I do know Java. If you really want to know the language, I'd suggest going for the official Oracle Java certification. The first level (certified Java programmer) requires you to know a lot of the ins and outs of the language itself. I studied for this exam by reading the 'SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 6 Study Guide', which is an excellent reference by itself. If you've passed this exam you can also go for other levels that focus on a specific parts of Java. For instance, I believe there's also a J2EE exam.

Anyway, I got the chance to do this at work, and I really loved it. I used to think I knew Java pretty well, but after getting the Java Programmer and Java Developer certificates, I pretty much reached new level of understanding. My boss payed for the books and the exams, which made it a pretty sweet deal

If you get a chance to do this, I suggest you take it! Preparing for these exams will take some time, but I think it is well worth it. It was for me anyway!

Cheers!
Dennis

I am highly suggest you to check out Larry Ullman's excellent PHP books.
http://www.larryullman.com/

Also the PHP manual is a fantastic resource! it includes a tutorial for every single function as far as I remember.