Best way to learn Java?

[AwsmGy]

I'm a computer science student and my school has a pretty heavy focus on Java. I'd like to get a leg up on my classes by learning more than what may be taught, so what would all of you say is the best way to learn outside the classroom?

[Mr.Beans]

Practice.

Create a project that you find interesting or find one that you would like to contribute to.

Sourceforge is a great place to look for existing projects

If you want to excel in computer science in general (and not just Java), I would check out this article.

[mrmatt1111]

My suggestion is to pick a small project that would be fun for you. Like a tic-tac-toe game or a blackjack game, so that you have a goal and something that you use to apply what you read in books, from the web, and from your classes.

I would also suggest installing an IDE like Netbeans or Eclipse.

While i was going through college i also worked on a monopoly game. I remember in a number of classes thinking during the lecture "ahh... i should have done it that way" and i would go home and rewrite a portion of the game from what i learned in lecture.

[AwsmGy]

Practice.

Create a project that you find interesting or find one that you would like to contribute to.

If you want to excel in computer science in general (and not just Java), I would check out this article.

Sourceforge looks pretty sweet, I'll register there for sure. Thanks for pointing me towards it!

My suggestion is to pick a small project that would be fun for you. Like a tic-tac-toe game or a blackjack game, so that you have a goal and something that you use to apply what you read in books, from the web, and from your classes.

I would also suggest installing an IDE like Netbeans or Eclipse.

While i was going through college i also worked on a monopoly game. I remember in a number of classes thinking during the lecture "ahh... i should have done it that way" and i would go home and rewrite a portion of the game from what i learned in lecture.

For what I've done so far it's all been in Eclipse, and on the topic of games I made connect four game but there's a bug in it somewhere that I haven't been able to find yet.

Thanks for both of your input!