With which programming language should I start before learning Java?

[Mvf314]

Hi everyone!

I want to learn Java, but I find it really hard to learn. I know HTML (if you can call that a programming language), a bit Python, a bit PHP and Lua. Can you guys post what programming language(s) I shiuld learn/understand before I learn Java?

Thanks,

Mvf314

 

[Celegorm]

Well let's start with this: What's making Java difficult for you to learn? Outside of BASIC and Visual Basic (neither of which really count IMO), Java was the first one I learned.

 

[Mvf314]

Well let's start with this: What's making Java difficult for you to learn? Outside of BASIC and Visual Basic (neither of which really count IMO), Java was the first one I learned.

Uhmm I didn't do any programming languages which are not for web designing, and I just can't find the good tutorials. (Google is my enemie )

 

[_michaelm]

Java was the first language I studied also. Do you have any particular objective/project in mind for which you want to implement using Java (e.g. games, network programming, web-applets, databases etc.) or are you wishing to approach this from a more theoretical computer science perspective?

If you're after the former then I'd go for a book specifically tailored to that genre of the language as it removes some of the 'but what is the best way to do that?' questions from a design perspective, and lets you focus on actually implementing and learning the language features.

If the latter is more what you're aiming at then I suggest working through information from a more academic source e.g. a pure java book/tutorial with no specific genre affiliation. I find the best way to audit your choices on this point is to use google books or amazon preview to find the section most commonly titled 'Who should read this book?' at the beginning of most, if not all, technical books like this.

Unfortunately I don't have any experience of any Java online tutorials so I can't recommend any - a quick search doesn't instill me with confidence based on the quality of the first few results..

Good luck!

 

[Mvf314]

Java was the first language I studied also. Do you have any particular objective/project in mind for which you want to implement using Java (e.g. games, network programming, web-applets, databases etc.) or are you wishing to approach this from a more theoretical computer science perspective?

If you're after the former then I'd go for a book specifically tailored to that genre of the language as it removes some of the 'but what is the best way to do that?' questions from a design perspective, and lets you focus on actually implementing and learning the language features.

If the latter is more what you're aiming at then I suggest working through information from a more academic source e.g. a pure java book/tutorial with no specific genre affiliation. I find the best way to audit your choices on this point is to use google books or amazon preview to find the section most commonly titled 'Who should read this book?' at the beginning of most, if not all, technical books like this.

Unfortunately I don't have any experience of any Java online tutorials so I can't recommend any - a quick search doesn't instill me with confidence based on the quality of the first few results..

Good luck!

Thanks, I want to program Minecraft Mods. And I actually won't actually buy books, but I just want to follow online tutorials

Thanks for the feedback!

Mvf314

 

[setishock]

Online tuts are only going to go so far. If you're serious about writing software, you have to be serious about learning the language and how it works.

 

[berry120]

I'd recommend Objects first with Java (yes, it's a book) and BlueJ (the two go hand in hand.) Should get you started in a hands on fashion with Java in an object-first approach.

Beware of online tutorials - anyone can write one very easily, and many people who know sod all do (at least that seems to be the case looking at various ones that come up in Google.) A long time ago, someone posted here with one they'd written proclaiming (spamming) it as fantastic. Just for the laughs, I wrote a rather lengthy response ripping it to shreds, and that's pretty typical of the average quality of such a tutorial!

 

[Libervurto]

Java is a C-style language so you could start with C to get to grips with this kind of programming, but honestly Java isn't that scary. If you have Minecraft then modding that is a fun way to learn.