How to start with Java

[The Ace]

Hello Guys,

I want to start with Java, and my programing skills end up with a bit of VB from around 5 years ago,

And PHP(5 if that makes any difference) that i'm currently working with at my job.

I've read the C++ topic, and a lot of you there recomemnded on books,

But the problem for me is that I can't really learn from books,

I usually learn best "As I go", if I need something done, I'll do it and learn from that.

So for the first Project I would want to make an alarm clock that has a snooze button and the snooze button is all the buttons on the mouse (I have Logitech G7 with 2.4GHz, so I can take it with me to bed and use it as a snooze button).

I would like to start with Java or C++ or C#, but since Java is the most interesting thing for me at this moment (Cuz I workd for an internet company), I think it would be best for me to start from Java.

So, What should I do?

What compilers should I download and from where?

And where to read all the info I need to start building my alarm clock?

Thank a lot guys,

And Shana Tova (Happy new year in hebrew, since it's Rosh Ha'Shana for the jewish comunity... :) )

[morganpugh84]

The two books I have heard good things about are ... Learning Java (if you already have programming knowledge) and Head First Java (for total newcomers to programming).

If you have good OO knowledge then go with Learning Java. If OO is new to know grab Head First Java.

Get yourself a good text editor (I like UltraEdit but it isn't free) and the Java SDK from http://java.sun.com. Install everything and ensure you can run and compile java applications (follow the basic tutorial on the Sun website for this).

Best of luck to you :)

[The Ace]

thanks deadmonkey,

But is there a way to start coding without a book?

I really don't have time for a book, I would like to see some tutorials,

And hopefully take it on from there.

Thanks for the link to the SDK :)

[emmx]

I started a Java class a few weeks ago. We use JCreator. It's a good simple compiler to use. It's free.

[_kane81]

on Sun's site they have a ton of tutorials. the head first book does do a lot of tutorials / hands on too

[morganpugh84]

  The Ace said:

thanks deadmonkey,

But is there a way to start coding without a book?

I really don't have time for a book, I would like to see some tutorials,

And hopefully take it on from there.

Thanks for the link to the SDK :)

There are a lot of tutorials on the Sun website which you should check out however I highly recommend one of the books I mentioned. Web tutorials tend to be short and so not as helpful to a person just starting. The Head First book explains a lot of start up information which a lot of tutorials will describe in 2 sentences and won't answer your questions. If time is a problem you have a problem as all languages take a while to learn. The two weeks you will invest reading the book and doing its exercises will be much better for you than 2 weeks spent on web tutorials IMHO.

  Mihelcich said:

I started a Java class a few weeks ago. We use JCreator. It's a good simple compiler to use. It's free.

JCreator is a nice IDE however I am a strong believer in learning the language first and then the tools that will assist you. IDEs tend to do things for you which, I have found, slows down the learning process in the long run. I would stick with a simple text editor until you feel comfortable with the language and then try out all the IDEs available. Trying to learn the language and an IDE is a bad idea but that is just my opinion :)

[Jeston Veteran]

  Mihelcich said:

I started a Java class a few weeks ago. We use JCreator. It's a good simple compiler to use. It's free.

I like JGrasp myself, I even got my university to start using it.

[primexx]

Textbook: Java au Naturel

Compiler: BlueJ

[Pilgrim03]

For my class (Introduction to Programming Concepts using Java) we are using a book called 'Objects First With Java: A Practical Introduction Using BlueJ (3rd Edition)' We are using BlueJ as an IDE. The book does a good job of explaining everything, and there are lots of exercises to make sure you understand all the concepts, and run through small java applets, such as notebooks, weblog-analyzer, ticketmachines and many others,