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learning Java with Eclipse

 
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Does anyone know of a website or book that teaches Java along with Eclipse?
I think it would be a wonderful way to learn the language alongside the IDE (wonder why O'Reilly hasn't come out with such a book?).
Dan
 
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Dan Bromberg wrote:
.. (wonder why O'Reilly hasn't come out with such a book?).


Probably because it is not such a good idea after all
IDEs are much more than text editors aimed at making life easier for the programmer and as such they abstract many things away from the end user. Things which anyone starting off should know. At a beginners stage you don't want anything happening "automagically" nor do you want to invest time in learning the IDE instead/along with Java. (Yes learning to use any IDE has a learning curve)

So if you are starting off, I would go with a text editor (like JEdit for e.g.) which will help you indenting and formatting your code but almost nothing else. Once you are comfortable and have solidly mastered the basics, you can upgrade to an IDE
 
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Many people believe that you should NOT use an IDE when learning Java at the start because many concepts that you need to learn when learning Java are hidden (or not made obvious) when using an IDE. Only use an IDE when you have learnt all the basics of compiling code, reading compilation error messages, setting classpaths, running programs e.t.c
 
Dan Bromberg
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I can appreciate that learning Java is a chore in itself so why burden a newbie with the overhead of an IDE learning curve; but once the very basics of Java are mastered it would be nice to have Eclipse clear up any misconceptions by stepping you through a series of programs: starting with something very basic to progressively more advanced. I would love to see a Schaum's Outline approach where the problem is defined and after it is coded how common errors are uncovered by Eclipse. If anyone knows of any Eclipse sites that has tons of examples (how I learn best) I'd be very appreciative.
Thanks!
 
Maneesh Godbole
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Well if you insist, you can check out http://www.vogella.com/articles/Eclipse/article.html
 
Dan Bromberg
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Nice!
Thanks, Maneesh.
 
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Dan Bromberg wrote: why burden a newbie with the overhead of an IDE learning curve!



Because if you really need a debugger (as opposed to printf), you have to run an IDE.

/ too bad the command line java debugger blows
// love me a Java flavored gdb
 
Dan Bromberg
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Jim,
Of course an IDE's debugger is essential - I just meant learning Java & Eclipse independently is enough of a chore. But once you have mastered the bare bones of Java it would be nice to have a series of progressively complex programs to run through Eclipse's debugger that would make the Java concepts come to life.
Dan
 
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Here's a free and interesting series of sixteen videos that introduce them simultaneously. http://eclipsetutorial.sourceforge.net/totalbeginner.html
 
Jim Venolia
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Yeah, that's my big problem with learning Eclipse. I don't want to watch videos, I want to read about it
 
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You too? I noticed that people seem to be using video tutorials these days. If it was a tutorial for how to change the pipe under your bathroom sink I could understand that, but for text-oriented things I want a text-based tutorial.
 
Dan Bromberg
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Thanks! I've read thru my share of Java & Eclipse books so a series of videos will be a welcome change.
 
Greenhorn
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Thanks for this helpful info. I am learning Java and want to do it as quickly as possible.
Your advice to learn Eclipse later can borrow me a lot of time now for Java.

I need a community I can plug into and I believe this may be it. Nate
 
Dan Bromberg
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I cannot think of a better way to learn a topic than by doing it - like the Schaums Outine series in math/physics...what a big help those books were in my underrgrad/grad career!
Dan
 
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Jim Venolia wrote:Because if you really need a debugger (as opposed to printf), you have to run an IDE.

That is not true.

With jdk comes command line debugger jdb. It does everything you need to start.
 
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I think videos can be useful for getting an introduction and overview, especially for something that is "graphical" like an IDE. To me they are complimentary to written material, and not a replacement.
 
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