Learning Java from scratch

[hajalie24]

I want to learn java and then maybe incorporate that into some android development but have no experience whatsoever. Does anyone have any recommendations on what to do? (books, online guides, how to approach it all, etc)

 

[PTNL]

Searching this forum for "java", or just about any other language, will give you some good suggestions.

 

[LuminaryJanitor]

...no experience whatsoever.

In Java, or in programming in general?

 

[hajalie24]

In Java, or in programming in general?

programming.

 

[jiminator]

Hit amazon up, look for a selection of java books, perhaps the dummies books. the used books are cheap. Read them and start working with them.

You might want to reconsider though. If this is your idea of an exciting new career from which you can make lots of $money$... well, reality can be harsh. The success stories you read about are the .01%.

 

[hajalie24]

Hit amazon up, look for a selection of java books, perhaps the dummies books. the used books are cheap. Read them and start working with them.

You might want to reconsider though. If this is your idea of an exciting new career from which you can make lots of $money$... well, reality can be harsh. The success stories you read about are the .01%.

It's more about being able to create something when I need it, instead of waiting for someone else or having it never arrive. I'm not interested in making the next angry birds or something. And I plan on taking computer science courses in the future, can't hurt to get a head start. But thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it. Though right now I'm leaning more to online tutorials as it'll be easier for me to work and learn with the multiple monitors that I have.

 

[tacosareveryyummy]

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/

 

[jiminator]

It's more about being able to create something when I need it, instead of waiting for someone else or having it never arrive. I'm not interested in making the next angry birds or something. And I plan on taking computer science courses in the future, can't hurt to get a head start. But thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it. Though right now I'm leaning more to online tutorials as it'll be easier for me to work and learn with the multiple monitors that I have.

For simple programs you might want to learn javascript for this purpose. for complex programs... you might be underestimating the amount of work required to make a fully functional program. And that is a problem that continues to plague the software industry.

 

[dast]

Here some free video tuts;

http://www.javavideotutes.com/

 

[net]

I highly recommend the book: Heads First Java

Here are a few programming examples for starter projects: http://eeprojects.com/coding.html

Try out the first question without looking at the solution when you've gotten far enough into the Heads First Java book.

 

[dropadrop]

Best way to learn is by doing, atleast in general. However first you do need to learn about programming, different types of variables and what they are and what their visibility (scope) is, data structures (what methods and classes are, different looping methods, what arrays, lists and maps are and when to use both etc). It will seem confusing in the beginning, but the more you program the clearer it will get. Java has a lot of ready tools, but for the basics it's still worth it to for example write a list datastructure yourself before moving to using the included ready classes.

In the beginning you'll be writing terrible code, especially the first applications with a lot of classes interacting togeather. Dont worry about it, rather when you get stuck do some simple uml type drawing of whats happening in the code, and you'll suddenly notice there is a far more elegant solution.

Learn to use a IDE line for example Intellij Idea (my favorite), or Eclipse. Learn to use breakpoints to see what's going on while executing the program.

When you are ok with the basics, try to find some basic framework which makes developing really fast. When you start workin with something complex you end up with a lot of dependencies and configuration which might be enough to kill all inspiration. Somebody might have made a framework which takes care of most of the confusing stuff and let's you just work on the idea you have. For me in web development Play Framework was like that. When I had an idea I would first end up spending hours configuring Spring, Hibernate, Struts, Junit and tomcat, and lose a lot of the inspiration by the time I was ready. With playframework I can have something in one evening.

 

[Cod]

First, read this: http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.html. Then, take a look at the following links:

http://introcs.cs.princeton.edu/java/home/ (my favorite)
http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/

Good luck in your new endeavor!

 

[Deleted member 176933]

Course | Programming Methodology
by Stanford University

Programming Methodology (CS106A) is an Introduction to the engineering of computer applications emphasizing modern software engineering principles: object-oriented design, decomposition, encapsulation, abstraction, and testing. Uses the Java programming language. Emphasis is on good programming style and the built-in facilities of the Java language.

Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL84A56BC7F4A1F852&feature=plcp
Includes 28 lectures. I watched up to lecture 10. I'm definitely no programmer, but I can hack a bash/batch script together. I was able to follow along with him without stopping to Google terms every few minutes. I found him entertaining...and he throws stuff at his students...often.

Course | Programming Abstractions
by Stanford University

This course (CS 106B) is the successor to CS 106A and covers more advanced programming topics such as recursion, algorithmic analysis, and data abstraction. It is taught using the C++ programming language, which is similar to both C and Java. In the past when both CS 106A and CS106B were taught in C/C++, the coupling between the two classes was very tight and it was unheard for students to take CS106B without having completed our CS 106A (we recommended CS 106X instead). Nowadays, some students do go straight into CS106B, this is typically appropriate for a student who done well in an intro programming course (e.g., scored 4 or 5 on the CS AP exam or earned a good grade in a college course) and has sufficient familiarity with good programming style and software engineering issues (at the level of CS 106A) to use this understanding as a foundation on which to tackle advanced topics.

Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6E58F856038C69&feature=plcp
Includes 27 lectures

Haven't watched any of this...but figured I'd add it here. I'm sure someone will be interested.

Stanford has a ton of these posted on YouTube.

 

[hajalie24]

Thanks for all the advice! I know I'll have a lot of time upcoming and hopefully I can learn something!