vB Easy Archive - Worth Learning Java?

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Worth Learning Java?
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Posted by: sickwithit

This is directed towards developers. I have been interested in the Hiptop developer scene and I would like to be able to learn java from the ground up. I'm wondering if its too complicated for a high school student or if its an achievable goal. I'm serious about learning the language and will do whatever it takes. I have no experience with coding or any other computer languages. A book was recommended on the dev site called "Head First Java" and I took a look at it but it says you should have some basic coding knowledge to be able to learn from the book. If your familiar with this book do you recommened this for total beginners? or do you recommend any others? Any help would be appreciated, and also do you think learning java is worth the time? I have read about java and I know its no walk in the park but I'm willing to give it a try.

Posted by: divinatum

It's all upto you. It's possible to learn java with no prior experience, it would take a lot of reading and trial/error but yes you can learn Java. Personally (puts on flame suit) I think Java sucks, but again thats my opinion. As a mac geek i'd prefer to learn cocoa/Objective-C but... thats useless in the HT world. Also it depends on your patience if you can be a coder or not... I for one cannot (I'd throw my computer across the room eventually)

Posted by: nicxtk

Well as a programmer myself I never use Java in real world applications. I just dont like it, and I can do pretty much anything in another language that someone could do in Java. Although Java MAY be a good start to programming. Personally, if i was in your shoes I would either learn C, perl or PHP. Although php is mostly web based (i used it for backend scripts as well) its a very simple language to use, and may be a good start for you to head into the programming world. Plus you can see results immediately, which is what programming is all about.

About being in highschool..I learned a few languages(vb,c,perl) in middle school/high school (not by taking classes, on my own), so being in highschool shouldnt really have an impact on anything.

My advise, learn a language that will be useful to you, not something to learn just to do ONE specific thing..That is, unless you want to limit yourself.

Well hope that helps.

Posted by: Sonic McTails

I went from PHP -> Java, but Sun's guides about Java are top notch, and even good for non-programmer people.

Posted by: jgeorge

The problem is that comparative language discussions don't count here. If you want to develop for the hiptop, you do it in Java, or you don't do it. The nice thing about it is that Java isn't an overly complex language - the basics of it are reasonably easy to pick up. The hiptop specific API set - while not documented overly well - is comprehensive and pretty flavorful - the APIs do a lot of the heavy lifting for you for things like network access and so on.

Joe