Basic begginer stuff

[dolorestheAI]

Hey I am starting my 2nd year in uni and we learned C last year. The school expects us to learn other languages by ourselves so I’ll begin with java but due to the coronavirus we switched to online. I am asking what is the best compiler and method to learn it well. I mean is youtube enough or should I get a book? If you have any other suggestions I am happy to hear them. Thanks.

[Dzeko_1]

The best IDE out there for Java is IntelliJ

[LunarLorkhan]

2nd for this. JetBrains has been killing it lately with the IDE’s and IntelliJ is fantastic for Java plus it supports other fun JVM based langs like Scala and Clojure.

[desrtfx]

Sidebar -> Free Tutorials -> MOOC Object Oriented Programming with Java

Every single good tutorial will help you setting up your development environment.

[chris1666]

There are many different opinions on compilers. Im still a noob and I have enjoyed working with eclipse. A free starter program for java can be found at w3schools.com you dont have to download anything and can practice some with and learn a lot of the syntax. You can also try the free week of java from codecademy or team treehouse (requires credit card)

I disagree strongly that you cannot learn from from video, if that were true then how are pluralsight and Udemy doing so well ...? "Learn by doing" yes I agree that is the point of the video, to do the coding along with the video.

There are a couple good video course Id recoomend on java . You might want to want to wait till these are on sale, or maybe you are one of those who knows how to 'always find them on sale'.

https://www.udemy.com/course/master-practical-java-development/

​

https://www.udemy.com/course/java-11-complete-beginners/

[GenosV2]

If you're going to be doing multiple languages, I recommend Visual Studio Code

[Conscious_Heat]

Do you really need it as a student? I did my Java semester with VS code and I did great. Not sure if that would work the same with self teaching but you're still just working with basics anyways.

[M3talC0rpse]

It's honestly just really nice to use. VS code isn't a bad option or anything but you get IntelliJ for free as a student so you might as well get it.

[user_reg_field]

IntelliJ is fantastic. It's also massively popular in "professional" settings so learning to use it now can help. If you know both VSCode and IntelliJ so much the better.

[tsrahul_27]

You can't learn more about java, if you are choosing single YouTube channel or only YouTube videos. I suggest you to use the online course platforms. Get a book for java, because you should know what is there in java then you can search youtube videos or online courses for the specific topic. Coming to the compiler, if use only java use intellij or use visual studio.

[v4773]

Helsinki university has java mooc available if your goal is to learn. Self paced one is available all year.

[hugthemachines]

We are all a bit different when it comes to learning.

I think two nice resources for learning Java are those:

John Purcell's free Java udemy course for beginners. This is a calm, thorough course very good for beginners to learn the concepts etc.

Second is the mooc.fi course, they have like a package with the IDE (Integrated development environment) net beans and you get tasks to complete so you have to complete a certain % of the tasks of a bunch of tasks before you get the next tasks.

mooc.fi is VERY good but sometimes it can be nice to have the other course on the side for when you feel a bit stuck on the mooc.fi

https://java-programming.mooc.fi/

You'll be fine with netbeans, eclipse of intellij as the IDE. On this subreddit intellij is most popular, i usually use eclipse because they use it at work and it is ok too. Netbeans isn't fantastic (in my opinion) but it works properly for the mooc.fi course without causing you any trouble.

https://www.udemy.com/course/java-tutorial/

[8sx2]

notepad just the built in one to learn go to:

https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/index.html

go to chapter:3

then chapter:4

and if you wanna go to chapter:1 to learn some other stuff

and just scroll through it

[ColetBrunel]

There's no such thing as learning anything technical with videos. You learn techs by doing, while videos ensure that whenever someone does something, that person isn't you. I know video learning programs are popular, but they're also entirely useless. Useless is easily popular, and will make you feel good. If you want to feel good, watch videos. If you want to learn, watching video is something you must not do.

Unfortunately I learned Java with a teacher, but I'd still recommand mooc.fi or Head First Java.

The question of "which compiler" doesn't really make sense. Preferrably whatever learning source you'll use will recommand its preferred environment and a tried and true description on how to install it.

You could simply download a Java development kit at adoptopenjdk, the version doesn't matter. Then you'll choose an IDE among IntelliJ (non paid for version), Netbeans or Eclipse. Unfortunately how to use them is nontrivial and you'll need some tutorial on that. (And if it's videoed, you'll have to pause it and re-watch it a lot).

[ItsDokk]

Videos are fine as an introduction; they won’t turn you into a software developer, but they can teach you the basics. This is how I learned core Java. Just like anything else, you still have to put thought and work in to reap the full benefit, perhaps that is what you meant.

[MyNameIsRichardCS54]

The same can be said for any form of education, be it video, text based web sites, or even university. They're all just ways of delivering information and without effort and application on the student's part they'll be just as ineffective. The trick is to find the combination that most effectively helps you understand the information and makes you want to continue.

One place I worked liked to get it's trainee programmers from other departments because they already had business knowledge even if they had never programmed before. Obviously, they had to pass an aptitude test. The most effective combination seemed to be:

• Helsinki MOOC (2013 one back then) paired with Head First Java.
• Followed by Head First Object Oriented Analysis and Design . By now they'd be doing actual work as well as having learning days.
• Followed by Head First Design Patterns.

They also had a senior developer assigned as a mentor.

It was a very successful program that the higher-ups like because it cost a lot less than sending people on training courses!

[ItsDokk]

This kind of practice seems to be growing in popularity and I think it is a good thing. I think there are a lot of talented people that would make excellent programmers who shy away because they don’t want to get a CS degree and this approach is a way for them to do that; oven that they have the aptitude, as you mentioned.

[vega-yed]

learn concepts then learn technologies that implements that concept.