Java Programming help

[ChameleonX11]

Hello everyone. I've taken a year and a half of said programming at my school, but I've come to realise that it is sadly lacking considering the teacher wasn't a decent programmer. Actually, he was just a math teacher that knew some very basic programming skills, so a majority of my knowledge is self-taught high school senior material, which isn't good.

So I was wondering if anyone here can lead me to a good online tutorial that will reteach me java. I don't have a specific time frame to finish, but I would also rather not spend a year trying to learn it, i'm more conserned about becoming competant...

Thanks in advance!

[MethosH]

I've actually tried to read some online tutorials when I was starting... But I've found books to be much more rewarding... If you can't afford them or don't have access to a library with programming literature I recommend you to find some e-books.

[pendell]

Hello everyone. I've taken a year and a half of said programming at my school, but I've come to realise that it is sadly lacking considering the teacher wasn't a decent programmer. Actually, he was just a math teacher that knew some very basic programming skills, so a majority of my knowledge is self-taught high school senior material, which isn't good.

So I was wondering if anyone here can lead me to a good online tutorial that will reteach me java. I don't have a specific time frame to finish, but I would also rather not spend a year trying to learn it, i'm more conserned about becoming competant...

Thanks in advance!

There are a bajillion really excellent tutorials at java.sun.com itself. I personally find them very useful.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[MethosH]

There are a bajillion really excellent tutorials at java.sun.com itself. I personally find them very useful.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Oh.. yeah! That is a great advice.

[evnafets]

What sort of level are you already at?
Do you know programming basics such as loops/conditional statements?
Object Oriented concepts? (polymorphism, overriding vs overloading etc)

A lot of learning any programming language is not just the nuts and bolts, but the library/API that comes along with it to help you accomplish your goals.

What sort of path are you wanting to head down with this programming? ie Why do you want to learn java? What do you hope to accomplish by doing this?

[Delwugor]

There is a whole list of online tutorials for Java at http://www.freewarejava.com/tutorials/index.shtml.

You will also want an IDE to develop in, Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/) and NetBeans (http://www.netbeans.org/) are the big free ones, but they are big and can get confusing for first. DrJava (http://drjava.sourceforge.net/) may be a better choice as it is smaller and easier to get going with.

I'd suggest go through some of the tutorials but only for learning new things. Programming is really done through experience no matter what language and tools.
After the tutorials come up with a small programming idea or two and develop it, then expand on it by adding features and so forth.
For example a dice roller. Start with a basic command line that does one die type. Then add in multiple die types. Keep the die rolling in a separate class or classes.
Now say you want to make a web app out of it. Go look up some tutorials on developing web apps with Java. Put together an interface for all of the command line parameters for your dice roller. Take your earlier die rolling class(es) and put them in ... bingo now the same program works as a web app.
Now add a hitpoint tracker to your web app.
Now add a initiative tracker.
Now add gaming notes

Each time you add new features you'll gain more experience and learn something more.

[Decoy Lockbox]

If you want some college-level practice, you could try out some of these projects (http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/undergraduate/341/fall08/341-fall08-projects.shtml) that I did in school last year. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the project links. I used eclipse for all of these.

The hashing/tic-tac-toe/rudimentary AI one was rather fun.