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A book you can recommend for me...??

 
Greenhorn
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I START EVERYTHING REGARDING PROGRAMMING JUST TODAY.....I DONOT HAVE ANY PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF C LANGUAGE ALSO....SHOULD I GO STUDY SOME C AND THEN START JAVA OR JUST START IT OF,.....I AM VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT PROGRAMMING....AND HAPPY TO FIND A VERY INFORMATIVE FORUM LIKE THIS......
...IF YOU WANT ME TO START C THEN SUGGEST ME A BOOK...OR IF I CAN START JAVA STRAIGHT AWAY THEN SUGGEST ME ONE....
I HAVE HEAD FIRST JAVA.....AND...JAVA COMPLETE REFERENCE....SHOULD I SELECT ANY OF THEM OR...YOU SUGGEST ME ONE...?
 
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http://faq.javaranch.com/java/KeepItDown
 
Akshay Reddy
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ohh...i am sorry but your link helped me...thanks a lot...never posted anything in forums till now a bad start.....thank you.
 
Henry Wong
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I HAVE HEAD FIRST JAVA.....AND...JAVA COMPLETE REFERENCE....SHOULD I SELECT ANY OF THEM OR...YOU SUGGEST ME ONE...?



Well, those are good books to start. How about reading them first, and see how you do? If you come out understanding, then great. If you don't, then discuss what you are missing, and we can take it from there...

Henry
 
Marshal
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Don't try learning C unless you need C. It is a completely different language and you will probably find the apparent similarities will confuse you.
If you are a raw beginner, try "Head First" now. Preferably 2nd edition.

And welcome to JavaRanch and take your SHIFT lock off, as Henry has already said.
 
Akshay Reddy
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ohh my god..you guys reply faster than what my freinds told me about you guys.....thanks a lot...ya i will start with ...head first with java...." we shall take care from there"....thanks a lot for the support, have a great day.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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You're welcome
 
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I would like to mention a couple of web resources that have helped me a lot with learning java.

The Sun Java tutorial is a good resource, but maybe not the best for beginners to learn programming. I have found that their examples are often rather advanced. Forums such as this are useful for clarification though.

javaworld.com does a good job of presenting information in a simple and logical way. Their articles are well written but sometimes outdated, making reference to deprecated methods. Even so the articles have value. When I have struggled with the material in the Sun Java Tutorial, I have often found clarification at javaworld.com.

roseindia.net is also very good. They have an extensive section of Java tutorials.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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Fred Hamilton wrote:I would like to mention a couple of web resources that have helped me a lot with learning java.

The Sun Java tutorial is a good resource, but maybe not the best for beginners to learn programming. . . .

Good idea, thank you. It's here.
 
Fred Hamilton
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Campbell Ritchie wrote:

Fred Hamilton wrote:I would like to mention a couple of web resources that have helped me a lot with learning java.

The Sun Java tutorial is a good resource, but maybe not the best for beginners to learn programming. . . .

Good idea, thank you. It's here.



yw

This link goes to the same information but is is laid out differently (better, for my needs as a relative rookie)

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/
 
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roseindia.net is also very good. They have an extensive section of Java tutorials.


I don't know about the tutorials, but that site has quite a few example codes that show off really bad programming practices. Developer beware.
 
Akshay Reddy
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thanks a lot....to all you people...

1) book : head first java.

2) web resources : sun java tutorial....got it.

i have just 3 months after which i need to study a different subject....where can 3months of complete focus land me....i know its funny question...but it will help me plan and be disciplined...
thanks everybody

Abhinav
 
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Ulf Dittmer wrote:

roseindia.net is also very good. They have an extensive section of Java tutorials.


I don't know about the tutorials, but that site has quite a few example codes that show off really bad programming practices. Developer beware.



Duly noted, thanks. If you have any examples that would be great, but don't go to any trouble.

Sometimes having an example that displays bad programming practice is useful if said practice allows one to focus on what is essential to the topic, without having to worry about understanding a host of other issues. Sun would never do that in their tutorials. That is the reason I often find the Sun Java Tutorial examples somewhat difficult. But like you say, you need to be aware of the bad practice.
 
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Learning C is not a bad idea either. I used C code with Java (JNI) to do things which are nearly impossible in Java. Java is not a system language. C is a system language. Good knowledge of C will surely help you sometime. Give it a try for a month or so and then jump into Java.
 
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Wow, I have to disagree with Fujisan

If you're new to programming I would hold off learning C until you are really solid in Java and OO concepts.

These days I would say that while knowing C is a good thing, it's way down on the priority list for most programmers. It's impossible to say for sure, but my guess is that once a new programmer learns basic Java, they'll *probably* get into technologies like the Java EE stuff (Servlets), application frameworks, OO design patterns, databases, IDEs, version control, and so on.

For a few programmers C might be necessary early on, but I think that's pretty unlikely.

hth,

Bert
 
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ABHINAV ATLA wrote:thanks a lot....to all you people...

1) book : head first java.

2) web resources : sun java tutorial....got it.

i have just 3 months after which i need to study a different subject....where can 3months of complete focus land me....i know its funny question...but it will help me plan and be disciplined...
thanks everybody

Abhinav



I am three quarters through reading this much recommended book. It is long on humour but passes over some subjects very superficially. Personally I do not think anyone could make progress with the book without a) prior reading of Java and/or other languages and b) simultaneous use of several other resources. I went through all of the Sun language tutorials and a set of excellent university lecture notes and have difficulty understanding things in HFJ which were adequately explained in the other sources. The Sun tutorials are a much better place to start. Nil desperandum.
 
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I agree with Bert, C is very low on the priority list especially if time is a factor, which it seems to be in your case. I would check out the Sun tutorials prior to the HFJ book, they are extremely simple and are geared towards a complete beginner to Java (the sun tutorials I mean).

As for your question about where you could be in 3 months. Completely depends on your current level of knowlege and how dedicated you are to studying the new material. One thing is for certain, the more time you spend coding, compiling, and debugging the more you will learn. This knowledge is IMO much better than anything you will ever read in a book. Unless you actually do it yourself you are mearly reading someone else's take on the experience.

GL in your learnings. Also, you should un-capitalize your entire name, it's loud ;)
 
Greenhorn
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C is Junk unless you're going to work on Hardware.

C++ is useful in very specific instances...you would probably need to be working for Oracle, Microsoft, Sun, SAP to justify it. The language syntax (pointers, memory mgmt) is very complex as compared to Java.

C# and Java are the industry leaders in most cases. Unless you need a lightning fast application, they work great. Need lightning fast then go to the C++ route.

My first Java book was "Big Java" by Cay Horstmann. Served me well. You can fetch a cheap past edition on half.com

Also look on google for java courses at major universities...they usually post all their slides/notes and most importantly --> PROJECTS!

It's very hard to learn java from a book. You need practical experience which is hard to find....but colleges/universities require all their java students to do projects and they will post the specs for these on their websites. Let me know if you need help finding.

here's a start: http://agile.csc.ncsu.edu/iTrust/wiki/doku.php

 
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Ryan Anderson wrote:C is Junk unless you're going to work on Hardware.


Well, that's very narrow minded. Most of the Linux kernel is still written in C. Other programs, libraries and toolkits are still written in C (GTK anyone?).
 
Ryan Anderson
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You're right. Had a bad experience learning C so I have hard time praising it.
 
Campbell Ritchie
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I have already said there is no point in learning C until you need it, so Bert appears to agree with me

You are reminded that the "Head First" books are intended as beginner's books. Note there are lots of comments about learning and books on JavaRanch, for example this thread. You see how much opinions vary between people.

Is C++ really lightning-fast? Is it that much faster than C or Java?

I have a different book by Cay Horstmann, and it is very good. If you buy an older edition, beware. For Java don't buy anything printed before 2005, and make sure it covers Java5, because there were great changes between Java1.4 and Java5.
 
Akshay Reddy
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Thanks a lot....ya i will remove the capitals in my name..
 
Akshay Reddy
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It's very hard to learn java from a book. You need practical experience which is hard to find....but colleges/universities require all their java students to do projects and they will post the specs for these on their websites. Let me know if you need help finding.



i have started with head first java!!!

Hey ryan it would be great if you could help me find,
1) some good slides.
2) notes
3) most importantly some projects.
the link that you gave me on i-Trust , how can that be useful for a beginner ;
can you give me something pratically helpful for the beginner..
 
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Bert Bates wrote:Wow, I have to disagree with Fujisan

If you're new to programming I would hold off learning C until you are really solid in Java and OO concepts.

These days I would say that while knowing C is a good thing, it's way down on the priority list for most programmers. It's impossible to say for sure, but my guess is that once a new programmer learns basic Java, they'll *probably* get into technologies like the Java EE stuff (Servlets), application frameworks, OO design patterns, databases, IDEs, version control, and so on.

For a few programmers C might be necessary early on, but I think that's pretty unlikely.

hth,

Bert



I have to respectfully disagree. If you are learning on your own, or in a non-computer science field, you are probably correct. What value is that sort of study? Not much IMO, learn Java, and not the concepts and your marketability will be low, and your ability to move to fit market needs will be non-existent.. A CS program teaches concepts, not languages and many concepts just can't be taught using Java only. You will learn more about how memory works, what is going in the computer using C. That makes you a better programmer no matter what language you use.

A C programmer can move to nearly any language with relative ease. Someone with no other knowledge than Java and its certifications better pray they never need to move to a different language, or write system level code.

Anyway, Head First java is a very good start, just skip the GUI, threads, and networking sections as they are very weak, which is not a knock on the book. Those subjects are more complex than a doodle-filled chapter can hold.
 
Akshay Reddy
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ok!!...what about projects .....sources for few basic problems would be great ..
 
Campbell Ritchie
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