Free books on Java

Beginners, intermediate developers, and experts all want books on Java, preferably free. So I decided to gather on this page all the books I know about that are legally available for free. If you have a link to a book I haven’t included, please let me know in the discussion or by email and I’ll add it.

Standard Java

• Zdeněk Kotala and Petr Toman — The Java programming language. Its biggest advantage, to me, is that it’s entirely in Czech, which many beginners will appreciate.
• Bruce Eckel — Thinking in Java. The Czech translation was published as Myslíme v jazyku Java. I have to admit this book grew dear to me because it’s the one I learned Java from. The fourth, updated edition is now available on the book’s official website
• Introduction to Java course notes (University of Economics, Prague)

Enterprise Java

The books below are available through TheServerSide or InfoQ. Any registered user of the respective site can download them.

• Mastering EJB 3.0. If you need the basics of EJB 3.0, this book is a good choice.
• Mastering EJB Third Edition. This book covers the older EJB 2.1 specification, but much of the information still applies to newer versions.
• Java Transaction Design Strategies a book about transactions in EJB and the Spring Framework.
• The J2EE Architect’s Handbook
• Servlets and JavaServer Pages: The J2EE Technology Web Tier
• Java Testing and Design
• Jakarta-Struts Live
• EJB Design Patterns

Miscellaneous

• Java Design Patterns
• IBM redbooks