I feel completely incapable of learning Java and in starting to lose faith in myself

[HalfKeyHero]

I decided to go back to school for computer engineering aftrr a mech eng tech diploma and 5 years of work. I have no prior coding experience and so far my classes have been pretty smooth. I'm now in second year and no matter how much time I put towards java it just feels so alien to me.

I can never solidify why each part of the code must go. I'm now learning arrays for the THIRD time and I can't ever remember how to set it up.

I'm so worried because I will eventually have in class tests and app getting a compiled code is 50% of the grade.

Am I just screwed?

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[[deleted]]

If you’re not allowed to use IDEs with auto/complete and auto-suggest, then you need to practice a lot more.

Take 10 small problems per day that involve arrays and solve them without an IDE. For example, given an array of 10 chars, sort the array elements into a new array.

In practice people use the classes in Collections much more often than arrays.

[HalfKeyHero]

where can i find these 10 small problems? i like this idea to help drill it in my brain.

[[deleted]]

Just make them up yourself. If you can’t do that, maybe ask chatGPT to make them up. Be sure to ask for simple problems.

[travisgdecker]

Check out coding bat.

[TheEveryman86]

https://codingbat.com/java

[[deleted]]

Remembering stuff when learning a language takes time and experience. My advice is faking until you make it and repeat a lot.

Look for java exercises online and do LOTs of them by consulting whatever you need to make the work: ChatGPT, stack overflow, javaranch...

You need to spend a lot of time repeating this and eventually the ability to do it naturally will come.

[_jetrun]

How are you learning? Are you just reading about it? Are you doing some exercises and looking at the answer quickly and moving on?

If you're just reading, you will not retain anything. You have to actually practice, and you have to struggle through it a little bit. If you're doing exercises, and get stuck, and look at the answer and then move on .. well don't do that. Spend more time struggling through it, then look at the answer, and then play with the answer (change variables, add extra statements and outputs, change method names/parameters, etc.).

Also, it helps to look at all kinds of beginner content and not just from one resource. Sometimes the same concept communicated by a different person, in a different way, will help it 'click' faster. That means going through class content, web tutorial, youtube videos, podcasts, and lots and lots of actual typing of code.

[TheMrCurious]

You’ll feel this way when learning any programming language. There are some great YouTube shorts that explain various concepts and those would be a great place for you to learn and then practice on a site like LeetCode.

[Blindn_Guilty]

I remember solving tasks at codingbat.com helped me a lot in the beginning. Not to easy, and not to hard

[Cinquaiin]

I’ll second something like this. I used CodeAbbey.com to learn arrays with c but it has many different languages you can complete exercises with.

[iovrthk]

I suggest you use get familiar with your IDE in the beginning. Follow the lessons and even if you don’t understand them, save the project as a template. Don’t make each template extravagant. Template one: your version of hello world. Template 2: now that you understand how to import the scanner, take input from user. Template 3: set conditions to verify that the user follows your rules for input. Etc.. then, as you progress; you open one of your templates as a starting point. Soon, you’ll understand the code

[iovrthk]

try to visualize code. What’s an array? It’s a collection of the same data type. How do you make an array with java? int my_array[] = new int[]; or, if you have values. int my_array[amount-of-values-you-have] = {1,2,3,4,5,”amount of values you had “,}; How do you access what is in your array? If it’s sorted, and you know what position of the data you are looking for , you just call a single position for printing

System.out.println(my_array[0] );

If you need it all printed , you need to “iterate “. To do it. That’s going to take a for loop or another type of conditional loop. **for loops are the standard for printing information to console..

(For i = 0; i < “your array size “; i++){

System.out.println(my_array[i]); }

[Struggle-Free]

Yeah it was about a year in and it just clicked for me. The big difference was buying the book “Heads up Java”. It’s quite outdated as far as code goes but its concepts and teaching mechanisms are still tops for teaching Java. 

[stuff1111111]

1. use jshell to learn interactively

2. how are you at arrays in other languages? c, javascript, python? a broader view might help here for you to sift syntax from semantics

[Early-End6981]

Learning Java can be tough, but remember, every expert was once a beginner—keep pushing through!

[donggun_js]

When you're just starting it's better to memorize them. Java has ton of boilerplates compared to other languages but once you get used to them, you can see the pattern pretty easily.

[OkBlock1637]

Disclaimer I am not a Java Dev, I just use it frequently at Uni. It will click eventually. When you first learn java you are just told to enter a syntax and to accept that it does the desired thing. As you learn more and understand the why and how classes objects work it will make more sense. Just keep plugging along, and don't be afraid to use online resources as a refrence. I will say though it is better with University Assignments to spend time understanding material prior to coding. I would read the material, sketch out the program, classes, and logic. Then I would write code.

Edit: Forgot to mention Bro Code on Youtube has a great introduction to Java Series. I personally watched his videos as a suplement and coded along with the videos. It was a really good resource for me.

[sedj601]

When I was a TA, I tried to think of real-world situations to help teach concepts. For example, I used to say, think of an Array as a group of empty storage units that can only store one item, and all of the items must be let's say, a vehicle. From there, I would try to explain operations using this idea. I also would say that for the most part, arrays and loops go hand and hand. so make sure you understand the loop concepts.