Learning Java

I’ve just started reading the O’Reilly tome Learning Java, and noted that the Preface contains the following:

We cover all of the important features of the latest release of Java, officially called Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0, JDK 1.5. Sun has changed the naming scheme many times over the years and this is the most confusing release ever! Sun coined the term “Java 2” to cover the major new features introduced in Java Version 1.2 and dropped the term JDK in favor of SDK. With this release Sun has skipped from Java Version 1.4 to the Java 5.0, but reprieved the term JDK and kept its numbering convention there. We’ve had no choice but to accept the term Java 5.0 into our vocabulary. You can’t fight marketing.

This just about sums up what has put me off Java for so long.