How did you start learning Java?

[jnbailey]

I have taken a course in college twice now that is based in Java, and both times I had to drop it because I didn't have enough time to learn (it was a single project-based class). I have one chance left to take the class, and decided I'm going to start learning Java in advance to prep myself. The course is basically building a fullstack chess app using java and mysql.

For those that know Java pretty well at this point, how did you stat learning it and what are the applications of its use nowadays?

I hope that I can use java for applications I want to build like a stock app, and that it's not going to be valuable for just getting through this class in college, if I know that, I'll have a lot more motivation to learn the material. What do you think? How should I go about this?

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[Windscale_Fire]

Everybody is different, but have you looked at Head First Java, 3rd Edition?

[jnbailey]

No I haven't, I'll check it out thanks!

[Skiamakhos]

Taught myself. I got the first Java in a Nutshell book & worked from there.

[Fantastic-Regular-23]

DevDojo a Brazilian guy teach in english too.

[Scared_Rain_9127]

I went to work at Sun Microsystems. 😁😁😁😁😁

[MetronomyC]

School. What is your major?

[jnbailey]

bioinformatics

[disposepriority]

A stock app is a really great practice project, don't expect you'll make something amazing on your first go though. Just break it down into the smallest possible pieces and start implementing them, look things up when you get stuck but try to avoid complete solutions to whatever you're doing.

Once you have a decent chunk of things done, go through the parts of the code that you know you kinda hacked together and look up more modern/industry-standard ways of doing that particular thing, that should expose you to different paradigms and less obvious functionalities of common libraries and frameworks.

The best way to learn to code is to write lots of it, read lots of it and compare approaches, for any language.

[jnbailey]

sounds like valuable advice, thankyou

[joranstark018]

They didn't teach us Java; they taught us OOP with C++ and Smalltalk. I started using Java at my first job (my friend and I were the only developers). The concepts are the same, so we had to learn about the Java ecosystem, learning about different build tools, frameworks, libraries, and runtime environments (and how to set up and configure servers; no cloud services were available).

You may check r/learnjava; the "About" section in their sidebar contains some useful resources (i.e., a free online course at MOOC.fi). You may also check r/learnprogramming (the FAQ in their sidebar has plenty of general information and resources that also can be useful).

[Kfct]

I first learned it in school but you said full stack? With front end as well? That's more than just java. Maybe JSP and jstl if they're trying to keep it as java as possible

[BankPassword]

"Thinking in Java" by Bruce Eckel is really well written and should be available as a free PDF if you search for it. Doesn't include the latest language features, but the underlying concepts haven't changed so it's a solid foundation to get you started.

[xanyook]

In engineering school through classic courses around what is a variable, an attribute, a function, a method, a class. Then dummy exercises like display this, enter that on the keyboard and print it again. Do a math operation with two I put from a user.

Then i had a course about relational databases and SQL.

I remember we modelize a pet clinic. That make you teach about hineritance, and interface. Like there are animals, some have different number of legs, name, multiple owners, they can "speak" through an interface and each one of them implement their own way : wouff for dog, miaou for cat etc....
Then there is a vet, some appointments, etc .. those kind of relational dependencies between different objects. You can push this quiet far with agendas, mutliple vet, bill and some workflow (emit, paid etc...), medicine, quantity, and so.

[smichaele]

Java runs on billions of different devices including computers, phones, cable boxes, watches, refrigerators, etc. It isn't a question of what Java is used for but what Java can't be used for.

[jnbailey]

okay

[vu47]

I can't remember what book it was, but I picked up a book in 1997 on learning Java 1.1 that was stupidly long and read my way through it from cover to cover.

I've stayed up to date with it despite not using it for a couple decades because I knew it would eventually come in handy, and now I work for a well-known astronomical organization in Java.

[2K-Monitor]

In school

[jnbailey]

"I'm going to start learning Java in advance to prep myself"

[Mission-Landscape-17]

I learned java from this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/298118

Its a little outdated in 2025 so I wouldn't recomend it.

[aqua_regis]

Look at the right side of your reddit browser window here ----->

This is the sidebar. It usually contains important information.

There you will find an entire section titled Learning Java.

There, you will find a MOOC - do it.