The two bibles that any Java developer should have on their desk are Clean Code and Essential Java.  Whilst these are wonderful books, they still have problems. Firstly, they are now showing their age. We’re well into the lifespan of Java 8 and there is still no single resource pointing us to how to write great clean code with the new paradigm that is upon us.  Further, particularly with Essential Java, the material is very very dry.  You’re never going to remember the 80 or so points in full detail to apply to your code.  It’s great as a reference, but there needs to be something else.

Beautiful Java is a strongly opinionated book on what good Java code looks like in the modern day, taken from my years of experience of experience working on enterprise applications.  Some of these opinions are not new and will tie in with the general consensus. Others may appear controversial on first site, but I have witnessed over a variety of codebases with a lot of other colleagues how they can directly attribute to a code base that is easy to understand and maintain over a long period of time.

This book is also designed to be easy to read.  It is not a book that will dive into the nuances of the JVM and bore you with a million edge cases.  It is designed as a clear guide to approaching application design and coding.  A good dollop of common sense is required when applying these to your day to day applications.

Thank you for taking the time to read.  I am sure you won’t be disappointed.