It seems to me that most books are based on Java 6. I know next to nothing about Java.
I'm just trying to get Csoundo to work on Processing. Csoundo is a library for Processing so that you can use Csound technology inside of Processing and create your own graphic instruments.
I'm part of the Csound mailing list, username: Cacophony7
Yes, it will help, but you might not not need to learn that much. You should take a look at how to build Processing libraries...
http://code.google.com/p/processing/wiki/LibraryGuidelines
There are templates and more...
http://code.google.com/p/processing/w/list