Java For beginners - Where to start

[Laurentius Duncker]

Hi there all

Im new to the site, I'm currently trying to teach myself java part time and have the OCA and OCP books, I've done a few online basic and fundamentals on Sololearn and Programm hub, but don't feel comfortable that i have the basics, i didn't have programming in school so for me its a start from scratch scenario.

I know this has probably been asked before, but what is the a reliable book or online courses (that wont break my bank.) to get that can help me understand the basics and make sure that my foundation in Java is solid before going on With OCA and OCP.

Thank you

[Nam Ha Minh]

Hi, if you don't know where to start, I recommend you to read "Head First Java" - this is a really good book for beginners. Just by completing reading of this book, answer all its quizzes and do all its exercises  you will have a very good start in Java programming.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Welcome to the Ranch

I agree with NHM about that book,which is probably the best going, even though it is old. But be sure to check your installation first,and make a folder for your Java® work;see this old post. Get a decent text editor and set up some options, as in this old post.

[Steven Fraser]

Hello,
I am also teaching myself, although I have an employee who is also mentoring me, pushing me, etc.
Having said that, the Head First Java book is great!!
Murach's Java book is great also and when you think about the investment of purchasing a book, it really isn't all that much.
Best wishes to you on your path to learning Java. I think it is fair to say that with anything, it is a life long learning experience.
Steve

[Ansu Sank]

I've been teaching myself Java part time too, while I keep working on my full time Job. Started from 0 knowledge of programming too.

I can tell you what been good for me so far:

-Done some courses on Udemy, they often have flash sales and you can get most of the courses for 19.99£ or less

- That website been very helpful too https://beginnersbook.com/java-tutorial-for-beginners-with-examples/

- Also thses coding practice websites
https://codingbat.com/java
https://www.codewars.com

-If you get stuck, as a beginner 99% that you question been asked before here on that forum or in stackoveflow

-Don't give up

I Hope this helps

[Laurentius Duncker]

Thank you to everyone's quick replies. Really appreciate it. glad to know there are people willing to help

Campbell Ritchie - I've managed to get a copy of "Head First Java" Edition 2 for java 5. is this OK???

And I've managed to download from oracle a java virtual machine and i have Eclipse which i assume is the text editor? is this OK or is there a better format to work with for beginners.

Thank you again.

[Campbell Ritchie]

I would prefer NotePad++ as a text editor if you are using Windows®. The learning curve for Eclipse may be too steep for beginners.

[Junilu Lacar]

It's kind of the "party line" around here to recommend Notepad++ or some kind of similar text editor for beginners and running Java from the command line, etc. I'm not sure that's the right thing for everyone though. Working on the command line can be intimidating for some people who have never done that sort of thing before.

I'd recommend trying both environments, the simple text editor + command line on one hand and an IDE like Eclipse or IntelliJ IDEA on the other hand. See which one suits you the best and go with what's comfortable for you.

Just be aware that IDEs can hide some of details of the mechanics of running a Java program from you. Knowing how some of that stuff works can be helpful or it can be distracting, depending on your learning style. If you are more of a "mechanic" type person who understands what a clutch does and can drive a stick shift, then maybe the text editor/command line combo will work for you. If you're more of a "just get in and drive" automatic transmission type person who doesn't need to think about what goes on under the covers, then maybe a fully integrated development environment (IDE) like Eclipse will help you concentrate on navigating the road to writing and running Java programs much quicker.

Again, my advice would be to see which one suits you best and go with that. Eventually though, you're probably going to want to move to an IDE because of all the nice things they can do for you.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Some beginners take to a full‑blown IDE like ducks to water, and if you are one of those lucky people, you might as well make the most of it.

[Laurentius Duncker]

Thanks for the info. I'll download Notepad++ as well and see which works, just to confirm on the "Head first Java 2nd edition for java 5" Is that the one Campbell Ritchie is refering too?

[Campbell Ritchie]

Laurentius Duncker wrote:Thanks for the info.

That's a pleasure

. . . "Head first Java 2nd edition for java 5" Is that the one Campbell Ritchie is refering too?

Yes.

[Ricky Bee]

Hello All.

I'm also new to this Ranch and, like Laurentius and others, started to self-teach Java a couple of months ago. I'm not a native english speaker, so do excuse any language "typos" :-)

Though they are a little bit old, I'm mainly following the CS106A 2008 Stanford Lectures here: https://see.stanford.edu/Course/CS106A  (...and loving them! Excellent teacher, and has a breakout game exercise at lecture 10).

As for books, I'm reading:
1- the course suggested manual by Eric Roberts: "The Art and Science of Java_ An Introduction to Computer Science" ;
2 - Schildt, H. - "Java - A Beginners Guide"

One of the good things about Schildt's book is that it encourages one to start with a basic text editor - in fact, no IDE is used for the examples in the whole of the book. So, for the first month I used only Windows notepad.exe and command line compiler javac  - something which can became a real pain in the neck, but which gets you through the initial rough and necessary language aquaintance steps.

I tried then notepad++, but ended up using Sublime Text instead for a while (liked the interface better), and now I'm trying out IntelliJ and Eclipse.

It looks to me that an IDE is a somewhat essential tool in programing with Java, but I'm glad I stuck to notepad and Sublime for some time in the beggining - you can learn a few things that are otherwise shadowed from view in more advanced environments.

See you around, people.

[Junilu Lacar]

Thanks, Ricky. And Welcome to the Ranch!

BTW, I think the English in your post is excellent.  

[Fred Masen]

I tried both simple editor and Eclipse. Eclipse for Java is really easy to install and while coding it gives you some suggestions to remedy to your errors as long you understand the concepts that you are applying.
For me it has ease the learning process.Also, I recommend developing and learning under Linux , I use The linux Mint Mate 19 Tara distro which is a fantastic and easy OS to use but a new distro called
MX linux has emerged lately and it has some good ratings as well.

[Ricky Bee]

Junilu Lacar wrote:Thanks, Ricky. And Welcome to the Ranch!

BTW, I think the English in your post is excellent.  

Thanks for the warm welcome, Junilu.  Nice.

Regarding the subject of this topic, I find it that there are plenty of  resourses available online (aside from books you can buy, that is), and that a sustained complementary approach will always work better than to follow a single line of learning in a sequenced order.

What I mean is:
- Try to learn from different sources simultaneously (be it books, or online courses, or whatever);
- Practice in several ways and means;
- Test the same code under different tools and environments;

The two books I'm reading have a completely different approach regarding the same subjects (one is strictly line-of-text code oriented, the other, Eric Roberts', uses almost purely graphical examples).

Fred Masen, you mention Eclipse as a nice IDE - I suggest you try IntelliJ IDEA too - I find it provides a different, possibly better, typing-help contextual system. And what about Net Beans? (haven't tried that one yet...)

[Helga Mykytej]

If you want to master Java properly, you should probably go through all stages of the official Java tutorial, available free of charge here:

The Java™ Tutorials

Best Java Online Courses:

The Complete Java Developer Course;

Object Oriented Programming in Java.

Therefore, once you have mastered the basics, I would recommend subscribing to the official Java magazine, which outlines all important changes in the language itself and the auxiliary technologies that enable to run Java code:

Java Magazine