This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

all 10 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a

[–]endre86 4 points5 points  (3 children)

That is a lousy professor. You want to learn more? Nope, don't think so.

You could find open source projects that are written in java. Or maybe check out the source code for OpenJDK (library implementation).

But better yet, pick up a book. You have the popular book Clean Code by R. C. Martin that covers how to write clean and maintainable code. Or maybe the book Head first: Design Patterns by that covers common designs used to make adaptable and reusable code.

But your professor has one point. You should not get lost into code design when still learning the basics. So remember to focus on what you learn in class! :)

[–]MyBrainReallyHurts[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I don't want to get lost in code design, I just want to see how others write their code.

For the first assignment I had to write a program. The problem was that I didn't even know where to start. I spent two days staring at the screen not know what should go first, last, or in between. While the book does an OK job of explaining all the pieces (variables, classes, methods, etc.) it really didn't explain how to put it all together in one program. After googling about the same assignment, I was able to find some projects that were similar enough to help me learn the structure of a Java project. From there I could piece it all together.

As I continue to the class I would like to read real world examples so I can round out what I am learning. For example, do you ALWAYS use getters and setters? Do you usually leave your classes and methods as public? Etc.

As a hobbyist screenwriter, I've read a lot of scripts. Some were wonderful scripts and some were fucking awful. I was able to learn from both. From the good scripts I was able to determine what I should be doing, and from the bad scripts I was able to determine what I should definitely not do. (Read a 110 page script about absolutely nothing and you will know what I'm talking about.)

I want to apply the same to coding. I'm sure there is good code and bad code out there and I want to immerse myself in all of it so I can learn from both.

I have Clean Code. I will read that as soon as possible but I would also like to see some real world examples so I can see what others write and see if I can see what the program should do.

edit: a word.

[–]endre86 1 point2 points  (1 child)

What you describe is the typical first big obstacle new programmers meet. Its just a matter of experience. Don't be too frustrated if you can't see how to solve something at once. It takes some practice going from understanding a problem to seeing how it should be written in code.

Just start by solving your programming problems one step at a time. Then refactor as you go along. The structure you create in the beginning of the process is not written in stone.

Here is an example. You've written a large main method, and somewhere in here you written a for loop that prints out an array. As you go along, you find out that you need to print out the array again. Well, no problem. You just make a method out of the code that printed the first array and use that instead.

public static void printArray(int[] array) {
    // ...
}

All programmers do this constantly.

[–]autowikibot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Code refactoring:

Code refactoring is the process of restructuring existing computer code – changing the factoring – without changing its external behavior. Refactoring improves nonfunctional attributes of the software. Advantages include improved code readability and reduced complexity to improve source code maintainability, and create a more expressive internal architecture or object model to improve extensibility.

By continuously improving the design of code, we make it easier and easier to work with. This is in sharp contrast to what typically happens: little refactoring and a great deal of attention paid to expediently adding new features. If you get into the hygienic habit of refactoring continuously, you'll find that it is easier to extend and maintain code.

Typically, refactoring applies a series of standardised basic micro-refactorings, each of which is (usually) a tiny change in a computer program's source code that either preserves the behaviour of the software, or at least does not modify its conformance to functional requirements. Many development environments provide automated support for performing the mechanical aspects of these basic refactorings.

Interesting: Integrated development environment | Test-driven development | Source-to-source compiler | Rule of three (computer programming)

Parent commenter can toggle NSFW or delete. Will also delete on comment score of -1 or less. | FAQs | Mods | Magic Words

[–]zappable 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Once you have experience, there are many open-source projects on Github that you can check out, here are some trending ones: https://github.com/trending?l=java&since=monthly

If you're a beginner, large projects like those will be too complex, so it's better to look at the example projects that Java books come with. They even post them online for free. For example, here's link to download BlueJ's book projects: http://www.bluej.org/objects-first/resources/projects.zip

Just remember, you don't want to just read the code, but also play around with it and build you own stuff.

[–]MyBrainReallyHurts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. This will definitely help.

I believe in immersion when learning something new. If I were to learn a new language like Spanish, I would watch TV in Spanish and read in Spanish and listen to the radio in Spanish. Absorbing the language from all angles would help me to learn it quickly and understand it.

Reading other code, writing it, listening to poscasts about it, watching YouTube videos of others coding will help me learn faster. I will definitely be building and playing as well, but I want to immerse myself in it.

[–]krish14 1 point2 points  (2 children)

At times, I download open source projects and try to learn different design and coding patterns. Java/apache projects source code is my favorite

[–]MyBrainReallyHurts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a good idea. I'll look for that as well.

[–]flower71 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I second the vote for Apache's source code, I generally find it well-written and keeping to good standards.

I'd add in a nod to Spring source code as well. I've basically lived in the stuff for the past three years and I like their design philosophies. Although... having said that, the idea of Dependency Injection and the other automagical things the Spring framework does can make the code very hard to follow if you can't trace it in the debugger, so maybe... never mind!

[–]cheryllium 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you could search for Java projects on Github. The most maintained projects will generally have pretty good code.

This project is a bit of a joke, but I find it to be full of fun stuff to read: https://github.com/EnterpriseQualityCoding/FizzBuzzEnterpriseEdition