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

[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.

[disjunction]

LOL at everyone in this thread except Chips Ahoy and some of the later posts. Java is a great first language. That's why it's used for lots of intro courses. That's why you should learn it by following your own introductory course and following its curriculum, do the homeworks, etc. I'm sure there are better, but here's one:

http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs.../handouts.html

Also, like Chips said, just keep writing programs to do stupid stuff. It's like exercise, your mind will resist doing it at first but you need to. You don't need to immerse yourself, it's not that intense. You do need to keep writing programs.