Improving Java Skills

Digital Society · 13-05-2014 12:03am #1

Hi

Im looking for some information of where to go next to improve my Java Programming.

Not sure how exactly to describe my level of proficiency. Probably second or third year of College. I have experience creating Database Driven apps which query a database which is stored online through JDBC. I understand SQL relations etc.

What i could probably do with improving is collections. With no formal structure to my education i.e Going from year to year in college im not sure what to progress to next. It would be good to find some exercises that progressively get harder maybe. Or maybe even some kind of checklist that i can say understand that / don't understand that etc.

What would come next if i was in college? And how can i explain my proficiency so people understand what level i am at?

Any questions just ask.

Thanks

fergalr · 13-05-2014 12:43am

Can you tell us a little bit about where you want to get to? What's your goal?

It sounds like you've made good progress, especially outside a formal education framework.

Honestly, a lot of people get to about the stage you are at, and just start working on building whatever it is they want to build, and learn more as they go.

If you were in college, you'd probably be next studying things like a general course on Algorithms and Data Structure, and getting good at implementing tricky algorithms. Practice doing that sort of thing is a good way to improve as a programmer.

Then more advanced types of fundamental exercise, more advanced algorithms & data structures, and implementing progressively bigger and more advanced applications. In terms of pure programming (excluding specific study of algorithms&data structures), students are often just given tasks to do after they get to your stage, and they learn to get better at programming as they do the tasks.

Maybe also starting to learn different languages, so you can learn the advantages and disadvantages of different paradigms.

What you should do depends on your goal. In general, write lots of code, try get feedback on it, and try solve progressively bigger and harder problems, and get your head around trickier systems, algorithms and data structures.

Digital Society · 13-05-2014 1:53am

I actually started off with HTML, then got into PHP and Databases. Really loved creating websites. Then started with Java.

I dont really have a goal as such. When you say build whatever i want to build all that springs to mind is Websites. Ive built PHP websites then just created a Java App that reads from the same database. Being able to add and view info from App and Site. Created several things similar to this. All tend to be Database connected.

Is there somewhere i can see a few projects aimed at mediocre programmers rather than complete beginners or experienced programmers?

counterpointaud · 13-05-2014 6:42pm

Maybe try and build a web application using a Java EE stack ?

Maybe something like this would help: http://www.apress.com/9781430246268

Digital Society · 13-05-2014 9:06pm

Good advice. Will take a look.

ChRoMe · 13-05-2014 10:22pm

counterpointaud wrote: »

Maybe try and build a web application using a Java EE stack ?

Maybe something like this would help: http://www.apress.com/9781430246268

Just do it in Spring, thats what all the job advertisements are going to want.

counterpointaud · 13-05-2014 10:31pm

ChRoMe wrote: »

Just do it in Spring, thats what all the job advertisements are going to want.

Was going to suggest that, but I am in the market for a junior role at the moment and am noticing a lot of different Java EE positions with various application servers.

Would be interested in your opinion on the merits of which stack to learn as I have to do some work myself during the next month or so. You reckon Spring / Hibernate is the safest bet ?

ChRoMe · 13-05-2014 11:43pm

counterpointaud wrote: »

Was going to suggest that, but I am in the market for a junior role at the moment and am noticing a lot of different Java EE positions with various application servers.

Would be interested in your opinion on the merits of which stack to learn as I have to do some work myself during the next month or so. You reckon Spring / Hibernate is the safest bet ?

The *vast* majority of Java jobs are using Spring and Hibernate (+ maven). The fact your a junior makes it more important for you to get experience in them.

Digital Society · 14-05-2014 3:23pm

Whats the difference between Spring and Java?

counterpointaud · 14-05-2014 3:42pm

Digital Society wrote: »

Whats the difference between Spring and Java?

Spring is a framework built on top of Java, so comparing them doesn't make much sense.

Coming from the .Net world, it seems to solve many of the same problems as ASP.Net MVC does for ASP.Net. Probably similar to what Rails does for Ruby, and Django does for Python.

In short, it gives you a lot of functionality common to web applications (routing, authentication, web services, IoC etc.) and let's you focus on the problems rather than reinvent the wheel.

Just to be clear, you will still be using Java, just with extra API's available from the framework.

Digital Society · 14-05-2014 4:09pm

I dont think ive ever used something like that.

Signed up for this. It looks good enough. Got it for $10 in a deal and seems really good so far.

https://www.udemy.com/javaspring/#/

Also had a good read through the book mentioned and thats also a good source.

Cheers for the help.

counterpointaud · 14-05-2014 4:14pm

Digital Society wrote: »

I dont think ive ever used something like that.

Signed up for this. It looks good enough. Got it for $10 in a deal and seems really good so far.

https://www.udemy.com/javaspring/#/

Also had a good read through the book mentioned and thats also a good source.

Cheers for the help.

Looks decent, I might sign up myself after the exams. Best of luck with it.

Digital Society · 14-05-2014 4:28pm

counterpointaud wrote: »

Looks decent, I might sign up myself after the exams. Best of luck with it.

Always a good coupon going so pay no more than 75% off.

Digital Society · 15-05-2014 1:44pm

Just before i start off wrong is it the Spring Tool Suite i need to install?

Synode · 19-05-2014 11:43am

Digital Society wrote: »

Always a good coupon going so pay no more than 75% off.

Where did you get the coupon? I'd be very interested in that course but can't find a valid coupon.

Digital Society · 19-05-2014 11:01pm

Synode wrote: »

Where did you get the coupon? I'd be very interested in that course but can't find a valid coupon.

Sign up for Udemy and they send you coupons weekly.

Just checked my emails and theres a constant sending of emails probably on average every 10 days.

last one was for 65% off. It was sent on the 10th and Valid for 7 days so id say they will send another batch soon.

All these are $10 now. https://www.udemy.com/collection/premium-courses

I have the web developer course from 199 down to 10 and would say its really good for someone starting. Probably a bit past it now myself but would recommend it for a starter. https://www.udemy.com/become-a-certified-web-developer/#/

Id say just sign up. They might email you a coupon straight away for money off. The creator of that course also sends regular coupons. Last one was 50% off a few weeks ago.

chrislad · 20-05-2014 11:02pm

That's a fantastic course. I used it for my final year project. It's about 120 hours of content, and very well explained. He's also fantastic to help if you get stuck. Well worth the price of entry, plus it's the only set of tutorials that I could find that showed you how to get all these technologies (Maven, Hibernate, Spring) working together, rather than a load of separate tutorials.

Synode · 21-05-2014 11:00am

I'm going to do it over the summer in preparation for my final year in September. What did you do your final year project on?

h57xiucj2z946q · 21-05-2014 11:09am

ChRoMe wrote: »

Just do it in Spring, thats what all the job advertisements are going to want.

With v6, J EE is gaining a-lot of popularity too.

A Greedy Algorithm · 21-05-2014 1:58pm

I'm interested in doing that course as well, i signed up a few days ago to Udemy (3 days ago i think) and received a 50% off voucher, which brings it down to roughly 14 euros. I'm not sure if the voucher will work more than once but if anyone wants to try PM me and ill send it on.

chrislad · 21-05-2014 8:15pm

Synode wrote: »

I'm going to do it over the summer in preparation for my final year in September. What did you do your final year project on?

It was a study on the effect that frameworks had on quality attributes for a web application. The product was using Spring etc to create a tennis website.

Improving Java Skills

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