well, I'm not an expert yet, unfortunately (as some in this ng can
attest to... :)  but here's a general index with a whole lot of stuff
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/reallybigindex.html

and for API (documentation of all packages, classes, methods, etc..)
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/index.html

good luck..

Frances

Have you thought of a correspondence course such as the Open University?

Newsey

There is a lot of information on http://java.sun.com. Possibly too much
information. Here is a little bit of a break down so you might be able to
make a little more sense of what is on this site:

There are three forms of Java: J2SE, J2EE and J2ME.

J2SE is if you want to program standalone applications. This is the core
of the Java programming language. SE = Standard Edition.

J2EE is a framework for creating applications that exist in an Enterprise
environment. EE = Enterprise Edition. This builds on J2SE. If I wanted to
write programs that run on an application server I would use J2SE to code
the guts and J2EE to organize the design. For example, online banking
would be J2EE.

J2ME is a cut down version of J2SE. It gives you what you need to program
Java for mobile devices. ME = Mobile Edition. This is not an area I'm
really familiar with so you'll have to depend on others to elaborate.

If you want to program desktop applications that run on a single machine
or have some network access then you can learn it all in J2SE.

If you want to have the application running on multiple machines, access
databases, handling web access, security, etc. then you want to learn
J2EE. When you get into J2EE you can expect acronym overload. You will see
things like JDBC (Java DataBase Connections), JNDI (Java Naming Directory
Index), RMI (Remote Method Invocation), etc.

J2EE is all about creating standards. For example, I maintain an
application that can be built for 6 different application servers and
configured (just by editing a text file) for any number of databases. All
from one code base. There are no "if (server1) then do X else if (server2)
then do Y else if (server3) then do Q" statements in the code.

In other words, if I know how to program in C I don't necessarily know how
to program an Ethernet driver. Learn Java first (J2SE) and then learn how
you can apply it second (J2EE). I believe the same is true for J2ME; J2ME
is a way to apply J2SE.

TRain with Good Books From SUN PRESS and O'Reilly

Once you are "somewhat" comfortable with objects and you "think" you
understand objects become an expert (Read and Practice, Practice, Practice)
at SWING, JDBC.  This way you will be able to make some useable applications
and then you will have objects on the brain and will realize that a lot of
people do not understand OOP and the ones who do sound like an angry English
teacher when they try to explain it.

Everything else after this is gravy and just a matter of getting comfortable
with the APIs

I have a stack of JAVA books 5 ft high and I need more.....

It is a challenge to be OOP all the time in java, in fact you can program
procedurally with Java, programmers have a hard time grasping Java when they
are used to modular/procedural programming, some spend their time learning
how to program procedurally in Java, it's a rough way to go and few benefits
are gained with java at that point

Try javaworld.com for some good OOP articles

Objects, my precious....yes..objects

Sean