java programming

Gman_Ireland

hi all

i have started a java programming course and am finding it a bit hard to understand. Is there any where i can find info to simplify it or help me.

any good video tutorials, need your help.

thanks in advance.

Anima

The official tutorials should be enough: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/

hobochris

Gman_Ireland wrote: »

hi all

i have started a java programming course and am finding it a bit hard to understand. Is there any where i can find info to simplify it or help me.

any good video tutorials, need your help.

thanks in advance.

Keep at It and practice and it will all Click.

Read the tutorials and practice writing the code, make small app's from what you know so far.

There is no easy way to learn, Just put in the work and It will come to you.

Dacelonid

What in particular are you finding hard to understand?

NeverSayDie

Haven't read it myself, but I've seen this book recommended pretty highly for beginners;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Head-First-Java-Kathy-Sierra/dp/0596009208

Other than that, as others have suggested, practise is the key. You'll certainly benefit from lectures, video tutorials, books, etc, but if you're not actually putting together code yourself along with that and as part of it, you're guaranteed to get nowhere.

Given some time and practise, it'll start to come together.

croo

UC Berkley have a really great set of videos on youtube and (from memory) I am pretty sure 1 course at least was based on java. Search youtube for CS61B. I think these might be more useful if you are new to programming generally. I checked them myself just out curiosity rather than a need to learn java but I thought the lectures were excellent.

p

NeverSayDie wrote: »

Haven't read it myself, but I've seen this book recommended pretty highly for beginners;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Head-First-Java-Kathy-Sierra/dp/0596009208

Those Heads First series of books are really good. I highly recommend them.

Gman_Ireland

@Dacelonid i'm finding java / object terminology " classes, objects, constructors " a bit tricky

Gman_Ireland

@hobochris thanks i will.

Gman_Ireland

@croo thanks had a look and yes he explains it a bit better than our lecture

thanks again for help

Gman_Ireland

@NeverSayDie Thanks, do you know where i would find the pdf version

NeverSayDie

Gman_Ireland wrote: »

@NeverSayDie Thanks, do you know where i would find the pdf version

Yep, you can get it in PDF form from O'Reilly's eBook store here;
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596009205/

p

Gman_Ireland wrote: »

@Dacelonid i'm finding java / object terminology " classes, objects, constructors " a bit tricky

The concept is easy enough to get. It just clicks eventually.

The terminology is a load of bollox though!


Just concentrate on getting the basics.

Let's say you have a class called Tree, that draws a picture of a tree on screen. You can then create multiple instances of that class and you then have 10 trees on screen. They all look the same cause their from the same class. This means, that if you want to change the way the trees looks, you only have to change the code in one place, which saves a lot of time and hassle.

A constructor is just a piece of code that runs when you create, or 'construct' a new instance of a class. So, you might have some code in your Tree class that sets the height and colour of the tree.


Play around and make sure you understand that, if you can get that far, then try worry about inheritance etc... The main thing I would suggest is try to do something fun or relevant. Set yourself a little project or task, rather than trying to learn in abstractly. It's very hard out of context.

Good luck!

Gman_Ireland

@p thanks i will do just that, think i was trying to take it in all at once. (overloading myself)

Gman_Ireland

@NeverSayDie Thanks got it downloaded, will start reading tomorrow... thanks again.

Tyrant^

I got Head first java. Dont like it at all !

If your an absolute beginner like me get Java A Beginners guide. or Java for absolute beginner.

Gman_Ireland

@Tyrant^ thanks for that bit of advice, i was out looking today.

Joneser

I have found "Java Concepts" to be a very good book as it has a large amount of sample code which relates to real world examples and explains the process of making applications pretty clearly.

Gman_Ireland

@Joneser would you have a link to a pdf format of book,

Gman_Ireland

@Tyrant^ i must be looking in the wrong place cant find either of them books , do you know if you can get them in pdf.

Joneser

Gman_Ireland wrote: »

@Joneser would you have a link to a pdf format of book,

Hey Gman, I found this link to "Big Java", by the author of the book i mentioned above, I had a quick look over it and it appears to be very similar: http://www.easy-share.com/1909089310/BIG%20JAVA,%203rd%20Edition%20by%20Cay%20Horstmann,%20Wiley%202008.pdf

I also found this page which has a list of 5 different java programming books that you might want to check out, I don't know anything about these books but thought you might want to have a look for yourself : http://www.onlinecomputerbooks.com/free-java-books.php

Gman_Ireland

@Joneser the onlinecomputerbooks look great thanks will defo find one i can use to refer back to, thank you for your help have started looking at big java .....

lmimmfn

Its all witchcraft!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gman_Ireland

@ lmimmfn it feels like that.