[ale] good website for novice learning Java ?

Christopher Fowler cfowler at outpostsentinel.com
Thu Oct 12 13:09:38 EDT 2006


And speaking of OOP lets not forget about Ruby.  That seems to be
succeeding too.  not as many years as with Python or Java but is
supposed to be pure OOP where python is not.


On Thu, 2006-10-12 at 12:39 -0400, Rev. Johnny Healey wrote:
> As far as programming tasks, Python can do everything Java can.  I
> think that most of the reasons Python hasn't replaced Java are
> political, not technical.  Python code is inherently open source,
> which prohibits some people from using it.  Sun has been pushing Java
> as an "Enterprise" language, which makes most PHBs happier.  Schools
> that aren't receiving hardware and funding from Sun and Microsoft (to
> teach Java and .Net) tend to teach much more academic languages, like
> scheme.
> 
> There are probably some things I'm forgetting...
> 
> -Johnny
> 
> On 10/12/06, Courtney Thomas <courtneycthomas at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>         But, can Python be a substitute for Java and is it
>         functionally as complete, and if yes to these....why has it
>         not
>         basically surplanted Java  ?
>          
>         Ignorantly,
>         Courtney
>                 ----- Original Message ----- 
>                 From: Rev. Johnny Healey 
>                 To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts 
>                 Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 12:18 PM
>                 Subject: Re: [ale] good website for novice learning
>                 Java ?
>                 
>                 
>                 Python is the easier language to learn.  I've TA'd a
>                 couple of introductory CS courses in Java and can
>                 honestly say that it's not a good language to try to
>                 start with.  A "hello world" app in java has about 10
>                 magic keywords, the python equivalent has about 1.  
>                 
>                 Also, from most of the code I've seen and written in
>                 the two languages, Python code tends to be clean and
>                 simple, whereas Java code is more likely to be
>                 overarchitected.  I think this reflects the underlying
>                 attitudes of the two languages.
>                 
>                 Both languages are well documented and have strong,
>                 friendly communities.  The atlanta Java community
>                 seems larger than the Python one.
>                 
>                 -Johnny
>                 
>                 On 10/12/06, Courtney Thomas
>                 <courtneycthomas at bellsouth.net> wrote: 
>                         Can Python be used as a substitute for Java  ?
>                          
>                         Is the consensus, in your opinion, that Python
>                         is preferable/better than Java  ?
>                          
>                         Thank you again,
>                          
>                         Courtney
>                                 ----- Original Message ----- 
>                                 From: Rev. Johnny Healey 
>                                 To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts 
>                                 Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 11:15
>                                 AM
>                                 Subject: Re: [ale] good website for
>                                 novice learning Java ?
>                                 
>                                 
>                                 It's kind of funny that you mention
>                                 both Bruce Eckel's Java book and
>                                 Python, since he seems to have hopped
>                                 off of the java wagon and onto the
>                                 Python one.  Last I heard, he's
>                                 writing a _Thinking_in_Python_ book.
>                                 
>                                 -Johnny
>                                 
>                                 On 10/12/06, Charles Shapiro
>                                 <hooterpincher at gmail.com> wrote: 
>                                         Grit your teeth and buy a
>                                         book. I'm fond of Bruce
>                                         Eckel's _Thinking_in_Java_
>                                         ( http://mindview.net/Books/TIJ4 ). 
>                                         Download and install the jdk
>                                         from sun on your machine. Read
>                                         all the chapters and do all
>                                         the examples.  
>                                         I made a point of not using an
>                                         IDE, so I could get a real
>                                         feel for the language itself
>                                         and how the naked compiler
>                                         actually reacted to my errors.
>                                         Most of the  stuff in Eckel's
>                                         book is simple enough to  do
>                                         from the command line, but
>                                         eventually you'll probably
>                                         want to gain familiarity with
>                                         ANT ( http://ant.apache.org/),
>                                         which is the java equivalent
>                                         of make(1).  If you  do this
>                                         early on it may well make your
>                                         learning experience a little
>                                         easier.
>                                         
>                                         BTW if you're a _complete_
>                                         novice and this is your first
>                                         foray into programming or your
>                                         first foray into Object
>                                         Oriented programming, I'd
>                                         recommend python
>                                         ( http://www.python.org/ )
>                                         instead of java. It's got all
>                                         the crunchy OO goodness of
>                                         java but lacks many of Java's
>                                         irritations (e.g. the explicit
>                                         compile step, Java's wonky
>                                         handling of the OS interface,
>                                         Java's distinction between
>                                         'primitive types' and
>                                         'objects')  Of course, you may
>                                         be constrained to learn java
>                                         by --say-- a boss who's
>                                         offering a carrot or
>                                         threatening with a stick.
>                                         
>                                         -- CHS
>                                         
>                                         
>                                         
>                                         On 10/12/06, Courtney Thomas
>                                         <courtneycthomas at bellsouth.net> wrote: 
>                                                 I know Sun has a ton
>                                                 of stuff re:java but
>                                                 I'm lookin' for
>                                                 a beginner's site that
>                                                 is more navigable and
>                                                 transparent.
>                                                 
>                                                 Thank you once more,
>                                                 Courtney
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