JAVA Programming

[shupola]

does anyone know of a good website or book, etc. where i can learn how to write java programs? i bought a book a while back, but it isnt very in-depth and it is hard to understand unless you have a basic understanding of what java is and how it works, which i dont. i know that java is a programming language and is used to write programs, but that is about it. if anyone knows of a book, i would prefer it to have tutorials with step by step instructions and sample programs. thanx a lot.

 

[mgoldb2]

Bruce Eckel's A very nice man and offers a electronic version of the text book he wrote completly for free.

Thinking in java 2nd edition
http://www.odioworks.com/46-Bruce_Eckel's_Free_Electronic_Books.html

This books have lots of examples of code throughout. If you never programed in your life you might find it a little confusing. They asume you have never used java before BUT that you understand some basic programing concepts that relate to every programing language. Might want to familize your self with maybe a easy language like qbasic then use this book to learn java.

 

[computerhakk]

why not just take a class with a professor?
i know its not as easy as said, but its better than learning urself.its just easier

java is very hard if you dont know the concept of it.. constructors, class, behaviors, importing the libraries, etc..

the book i am using now is computing with java by art gittleman.. its just a suggestion, im not saying its good or bad, just what i am using right now as im learning about programming with java also.. it have program examples, in depth explanations, but then again... if u have no idea or any background knowledge of java.. u'll be confused vary easily..

 

[shupola]

thanks a lot. i read some of the book and it seems like what i am looking for. greatly appreciated

 

[shupola]

why not just take a class with a professor?
i know its not as easy as said, but its better than learning urself.its just easier

java is very hard if you dont know the concept of it.. constructors, class, behaviors, importing the libraries, etc..

the book i am using now is computing with java by art gittleman.. its just a suggestion, im not saying its good or bad, just what i am using right now as im learning about programming with java also.. it have program examples, in depth explanations, but then again... if u have no idea or any background knowledge of java.. u'll be confused vary easily..

classes take time and money, which i dont have a lot of either. i seem to think that i pick up on things easily, and i actually have had a college computer class that introduced java.


also, how long did it take you guys that know it to learn java? and do you use it a lot?

 

[computerhakk]

i learned quit a bit.. but thats just the GENERALS as of now.. its a 1 quarter class, 10 weeks class.. in college.. so the farthest we ever got was making programs like computing the min, max, avg or a series of numbers...programs that produces a printed receipt upon ordering something.. like lets say.. 2 hamburgers, extra sauce. 4 medium sodas. 1 large fry. ice cream...

then it would compute the price, price of extra sauce, drinks, etc.. all this are programmed for individually in different .class files that have been produced with .java files.. and one of the files will read from a .txt file and import it that way..

 

[mgoldb2]

also, how long did it take you guys that know it to learn java? and do you use it a lot?

Well I picked up java very quickly but I was already very very good at c++ before I ever atempted java. I was sorta forced to learn java quickly I get into a senior level computer science artificial intellengence course teachers goes our first assignment you must do in java I do not have time to teach the java language so you on your own if you dont know it already. First java assignment ever assigned to me was to program the game of go that is no easy task. Even thoe I wish they stuck to java the whole semster because later on we got into the fun world of LISP and PROLOG. At least they did spend some time acturally teaching those two. That was last semster.

This semster am taking object orienated programming senior level and I require to program in java a simulation of the entire fed-ex system and it must be muti-threaded.

 

[shupola]

Well I picked up java very quickly but I was already very very good at c++ before I ever atempted java.

is c++ easier to learn than java and do you think learning it will help introduce me to java?

 

[mgoldb2]

is c++ easier to learn than java

C++ gives you a bit more freedem then java. There skills you can learn in C++ that you cant learn in Java. On the other hands there things you must learn in java that is optional in C++.

For example if you never programed before it might be easier to learn imperative programming before learning about classes and object-orinated. IN c++ you can do that. Java you forced to learn about classes from the very begining. Anouther example a beginner programmer probery should not worry about exception handling when they first learning. In Java you have no choise but to learn exception handling. IN c++ exception handling is completly optional.

Also skill like using pointers and garbage collection is things you should learn. Java dont let you use pointers directly and does the garbage collection for you. While C++ allow you to learn how to do those things your self.

do you think learning it will help introduce me to java?

Yes if you learn c++ well java will be much easier to learn. INstead of having to learn all programming skill which I think is easier by starting with c++ you just have to learn java specific things.

I personally recommend starting with c++. Unfortunally more and more schools are starting with java.

 

[SFR]

My two cents:

Once you learn the basics, go out and buy Ivor Horton's Java 2 JDK 5 Edition.

It will cost more than a few $$$ but it was well worth it!