Many of my friends and colleagues ask me this question in one form or another:

Here is my answer:

1. Read this book:
   Just Java 2, by Peter van der Linden
   Make sure to get the latest edition. The book should give you a good understanding of Java.
   
   
2. After you read the above book, look at these links:
   http://suned.sun.com/US/certification/
   www.software.u-net.com/javaexam/javaexamold.htm
   www.enterprisedeveloper.com/jcertify/
   
   These links should give you a good sense of Java certifications and exams.
   
   
3. If you want to continue with certification, read this book:
   Java 2 Exam Cram, by Bill Brogden.
   This is not a big book, so read it all and make sure to solve all its examples.
   
   
4. Do the exam. Its official title is:
   Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 Platform.
   Good luck.
   
   
5. If you want to stay current with Java, check out these sites regularly:
   www.javaworld.com/
   www.jguru.com
   http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/index.html
   www.cinjug.org The Cincinnati Java User Group (if you live in the area!)
   
   
6. Other Java related sites that you may want to checkout:
   www.michael-thomas.com/java/javahotsites.htm
   www.devx.com/gethelp/
   www.confluent.fr/javadoc/indexe.html Java Docs in WinHelp format.
   www.javareport.com/java2interactive/index.html Java Docs with class diagrams.
   www.mindview.net/Books Download the "Thinking in Java" book by Bruce Eckel.
   www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/ IBM's Java zone.
   www.gnu.org/software/java/java.html GNU's Java software with a lot of source code.
   
   
7. Finally for the IDEs and text editors:
   www.inprise.com/downloads/ Download the free JBuilder Foundation. JBuilder is my favorite IDE.
   www.textpad.com/ TextPad is a good shareware text editor that has Java syntax coloring.