When I started my first Java job, I was immediately overwhelmed by my knowledge gaps of the Java ecosystem. I knew how to write decent code and had a good understanding of the Java language, but I had never used Hibernate or "deployed a war to Tomcat"...and what's a "pom"? I soon found that answers to these questions were less than straightforward. Wading through pages of dense documentation and poorly written tutorials often left me just as confused as when I started.

That's why I decided to write Java for the Real World. Having lived through the pain of learning the Java ecosystem, I wanted to create a resource for anyone else in their first Java job to quickly become aware of all the ancillary technologies that Java uses. I intentionally do not provide deep tutorials in the book. Not only would that be an insurmountable task (nearly all of these technologies have books of their own), but I have found that companies use the tools in such different ways that tutorials only go so far. Instead, I provide an overview of the most common tools you are likely to encounter, example code to see the technology in action, and suggested resources for more in-depth study.

Starting a new job is stressful enough, why make it worse by losing yourself in a sea on new words and tools? Java for the Real World is a practical and candid book that can be your guide to vast world of professional Java development.

Updated September 2018:

• All the code updated for Java 11
• A new project for Vaadin Flow
• Expanded discussion on the different JDK versions