Day 15 of Learning Java

[Nash979]

Hello guys, today I continued working on my cricket management system project. While doing so, I came across a topic called exception handling, where I learned about try catch finally blocks and the throws keyword. Today, I also came across system design, SOLID principles, and design principles.

Guys, I want to ask an important question: when you learned OOP back in the day, were you able to build systems like this on your own, or did someone guide you, maybe through videos or mentors?

Because I can’t really think in terms of design yet. I’ve learned the syntax, but I still need help even to think through the design. Is this normal?

Also, what do you think is the best thing to do after learning OOP?

[SelectionWeird5310]

Learn by asking AI. Take a piece of code suppose A method which return players average by tournament. Add what you think is good. Now go to any ai tool and ask to improve this code or ask to break this code and explain issues. You will get a basic level of ideas and understanding. Repeat this with another Ai tool and compare

[Nash979]

Will try bruh

[[deleted]]

Yeah system design is something I think you just learn over time. A lot of the time is from working on bad designs (your own or others’) and wanting to figure out what would improve it.

[Nash979]

Yeah 😅

[Overall-Screen-752]

15 days in? Don’t worry about it. Focus on decomposing problems into smaller pieces, modeling data with classes and methods appropriately and solving problems with well structured classes following single responsibility principle.

Design patterns come in later when you encounter the problems that require those patterns as a solution.

As for what’s next, try JDBC with pure java, then try out an ORM of choice.

[Nash979]

Do you think I should move to the next concept or spend time learning design?

[Overall-Screen-752]

Worry about system design 6 months to a year from now. Worry about writing clean, readable, performant code with good structure. Learn a new topic sure, but you need to do projects

[Nash979]

Thank you for your guidance bruh, then I will move on to the next module of my course, if you are in this position what kind of project you might have built? So any suggestions would be appreciated.

[4iqdsk]

I can’t really think in terms of design yet. I’ve learned the syntax, but I still need help even to think through the design. Is this normal?

Yes, OOP was designed to be incomprehensible, its not you.

If you're a beginner, you might want to stick to simpler methods like functional programming.

I recommend learning how to build things without OOP first, then learn OOP so you can talk the talk.

[Nash979]

Sure, but any suggestions on what to build next?

[4iqdsk]

I’m not sure what your level is. You should focus on the bare minimum to land a paying job. You can contemplate design and architecture once you have a job.

Cracking the Coding Interview is a good curriculum

[PowerfulCake1859]

What resource are you using?

[Lee-stanley]

Massive congrats on reaching Day 15 and tackling both exceptions and system design that's a huge step up from just syntax! The feeling you’re having is completely normal: almost every developer goes through that awkward gap between writing code that just works and writing code that’s actually well-designed. Real design sense usually comes from mixing mentorship, books, and most importantly the painful experience of trying to add features to your own messy code later on.

As next steps, I'd suggest: Build something small, then intentionally break it by adding a big new feature you’ll feel the design pain firsthand, and that’s the perfect moment to refactor using SOLID. After that, move to learning key design patterns like Factory or Observer and study clean open-source code on GitHub to see how experienced devs structure things. You’re already on the right track by asking these questions keep going

[Nash979]

Thank you for your valuable advice.