macOS Learning Java

[*Y*]

Dear Macrumors Members,
I am tottaly new to the world of programming and would like to learn Java. Can any one point out books or wesites that are easy, fun, and teach Java fairly quickly, at least the jist of it.
Thanks.

 

[xwk88]

just go to java.sun.com they have tons of tutorials and the api is there also it makes everything easy to have all the classes and methods and an explanation of what they do. by the way good choice for your first language its really easy to understand (unlike c++) I've been trying to teach my self
c++ for 2 months and still think its too over complicated compared to java.

 

[jsw]

Java 5.0 (a.k.a. Java 1.5) is pretty new but has a lot of very nice features (borrowed, to some extent, from C++ and other languages) that make it a lot more flexible and powerful than previous versions. Since Java 5 is available on every platform, I'd seriously look into starting with it (as opposed to an earlier version); unfortunately, I can't recommend a good Java 5 book (my "beginner" books were in the Java 1.1/1.2 timeframe, years ago). No harm in using an earlier book - maybe look at Sun's site.

I've heard very good things about "Java(tm)2: A Beginner's Guide" by Herb Schildt.

 

[plinden]

Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel is free for download http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/. It gives a decent grounding in Java.

 

[*Y*]

Are there any books which are actually fun and provide hand on experince?

 

[jeremy.king]

Are there any books which are actually fun and provide hand on experince?

I'm guessing you didn't bother with xwk88's suggestion? Try starting here - http://java.sun.com/learning/new2java/index.html

 

[*Y*]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Dave the Great]

Are there any books which are actually fun and provide hand on experince?

You might try http://www.informit.com/bookstore/p...aid=548c5149-507f-4cb4-b186-c6c7500def22&rl=1

I used the Deitel 3rd edition along time ago and it was great. They now have the 6th edition out, but the How to Program series is pretty heavy duty. The tutorial driven, I heard, is alot easier and more fun for someone just starting out.

There was another book I used along time ago; I think it was like Java from Scratch. That was alright, but I remember it having a lot of errors. If they ever released a new version, I am sure they fixed them by now. It had you building an Stock Market application that connected to the web. Don't worry. It guided you step-by-step and started out extremely basic.

If you are using an ide to learn to program, the introduction to Java with JBuilder was good. Again, it was awhile ago and I don't know if its been updated. Again, I had found some typos in the early edition I had. I did contact the author and he said he was going to correct them in a later edition.

If you are looking for something a little more involved, but not as fun and not as serious as the Dietel how to program, the Ivor Horton Java book from wrox was good, too.

If you are looking for something free, there was a first application tutorial on sun.java.com that had you build a scuba diving program. It was a good intro, but the later chapters were very slow to come out. I do not know if they ever finished the series.

The Java Studio Creator has a free 30 day trial for an easy way to learn to build web apps, so you might want to check that out if you are interested in web related programming. However, the program does most of the work, so you miss out on a lot of the fine art of learning to program.

Also, check out JBuilder, NetBeans, and/or Eclipse, but again the ide does alot of the leg work for you and you probably want to learn it on your own.

Hope this helps!

 

[bootedbear]

http://www.javaranch.com/

Don't let the moose fool you!

 

[Zion Grail]

As I said in a different thread... hey, that rhymes!

I don't like learning coding from books - they're always horrifically boring and plain written.

This book, however, is an exception to the rule. BIG exception. This book is the best way to learn Java.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=9k0lWBVBYK&isbn=0596009208&itm=1

Awesome.

Seriously, I had trouble learning Java from my profs (mainly because they refused to teach the language and just taught data structures... kinda hard to do the programming assignments without knowing the language). After this book, I have actually become reasonably proficient at it and the assignments were no problem at all. (Although I'm at a different and much better school now.)

 

[mrzeve]

Hey guys.

I know visual basic and php.

Im interested in creating a program that will be cross platform compatible (Mac OSX - Windows 98+ - can be 2k+) and Ive been told Java is my best bet.

I have one concern though, and thats the GUI.

I love how in VB you get to map everything out and then give it the command and actions behind it. Is there some type of way I can do the same thing with Java?

 

[Zion Grail]

Java is very much multi-platform. You can actually use Apple's Interface Builder (using Objective-C Cocoa) with Java. The problem is that it limits you to Mac OS X only. Also, Java has automatic garbage cleanup, but Objective-C Cocoa does not. Apple's documentation has information on how to deal with this.

There may be an interface builder for universal Java. I don't know of one, but it may be out there. Without it, I'm afraid you're going to have a very annoying time designing and coding an interface. Trust me on that one. Even a simple interface can be complex to make without an Interface Builder-like program.

EDIT

Google turned up this. http://www.jvider.com/

No idea how good it is. Haven't used it. But at least there seems to be some stuff out there for this.

 

[mrzeve]

Has anyone had any experience with Jvider?