Learning java with no programming language experience, where to start?

[WhiteWolf]

Check out the "Core Java" series - these should be excellent for you. Volume I will be more than enough to get you started. Volume II covers some more advanced topics, which you may not need, so you can hold off on getting that.

[ArturiusX]

I have programmed a little bit before, while I was at school. Visual Basic kind of stuff. I understand the basic idea behind programming. But you're probably right, to get better, I'll probably need to true immerse myself in programming.

[jaydub]

[ QUOTE ]
I have programmed a little bit before, while I was at school. Visual Basic kind of stuff. I understand the basic idea behind programming. But you're probably right, to get better, I'll probably need to true immerse myself in programming.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if you want an answer to your problem, you need to elaborate. It's possible a Java for dummies is all you need, after all your goal is not to become a software engineer. It may be that all you need to do is get a sufficient understanding of Java so that you can type in some basic, static code to work with the system. If that's all you need, [censored] OO, damn sure [censored] all this functional nonsense (ml is the new scheme and ruby is for fanboys but it's far better than the perl fandom and slightly better than the subsequent python fandom so I don't hate), and just learn a bit of syntax.

J

[talentdeficit]

what software are you using, if you don't mind revealing that? although it may say it requires java for plugins, it probably really means your plugins must use the software's API which is probably java only and must run on the jvm (java virtual machine). this probably means you can use jython (a python variant that runs on the jvm and can interact with java APIs) or jruby (the same for ruby) or even something like rhino (javascript running on top of the jvm rather than in your browser) or scala (a functional actor model language that runs on the jvm).

personally, i would start with rhino if it's possible, as javascript is well designed and documented and you can do useful things with it almost immediately upon starting to learn it. it's also vastly underrated as a programming language.

learning java is silly, as you're forced to learn OO, static typing and exception handling when it's pretty likely you don't need any of that.

[badluckal]

If it hasn't been stated clearly enough above, let me reiterate: Java is not a good place to start (and IMHO is not much of a place to end up).

Do some bash scripting or vbscript if you are suck with Wintendo, do some perl or python to cleanse your palate, then learn some C/Java/C++. You will be much happier taking a bottom-up approach.