Trying to understand java

evanlivingston's icon

I learned all my programming in Max,

Now I'm trying to learn Java but I find the whole language incomprehensible. Has anyone else experienced this, is there any sort of bridge to get my mind into java?

elmiller's icon

Stanford has some great open courses online with videos of actual classes from a whole semester, the syllabus and handouts/assignments. Here is the link to the intro to Java course. I found it much easier than trying to learn from a book alone. Hope it helps.

-Eric

evanlivingston's icon
efe's icon

Java is a very broad programming language(like c or c++). If you have a clear task on your mind it will ease the learning curve. What I would suggest is to get familiar with an IDE(I recommend you eclipse for writing java) and to start by doing small exercises with clear learning tasks(how a loop works, what is a class, what is an interface, etc.).
I personally like these books:
http://www.amazon.com/Java-Beginners-Guide-4th-Ed/dp/0072263849
http://www.amazon.com/Java-Program-early-objects-Deitel/dp/0132575663/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303208478&sr=1-1

the book is a brick but it has a good source of information, take your time to digest it!

One last thing i can recommend you: if you want to learn java from a more practical/creative perspective why don't you pick up processing and start playing with it? Processing library is very friendly and well documented, an amazing pedagogical tool.

-emmanuel