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Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java

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From Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid>
Newsgroups comp.lang.java.programmer
Subject Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java
Date Tue, 17 Dec 2013 22:33:14 +0000 (UTC)
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On Tue, 17 Dec 2013 14:37:50 -0500, Henry Cate wrote:

> 	I skimmed the first one and it doesn't seem basic enough
> for what I want, but it does look like a good resource for once these
> teenagers get going.
>
In a way its a pity you're going for Java, much as I like it personally. 
I had the same problem getting started. I was already an experienced 
programmer at that point (lots of assembler, COBOL and C plus projects 
written using PL/1, TAL and RPG 3 [shudder]), but a 5 day Sun Java course 
didn't help me at all. I eventually got a copy of Ivor Horton's 
"Beginning Java". I'm certain its not to best book in the world, but it 
did get me set on the right path and had the advantage of assuming I'd 
learn using a command line, my favourite text editor and the JDK. Later I 
picked up ant and the use of an IDE. It also has a decent collection of 
fairly well thought-out examples and exercises.

Why a pity? Because I thought one of the best computer language teaching 
books I have used was "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan & Richie. 
They write very well and provide both excellent example code and useful 
chapter-end examples. I do think that a beginner could learn to write 
decent C using only this book and would, at the end of it, find they had 
a useful conceptual grounding that could be easily extended to make sense 
of almost any other block-structured language.

Add a copy of "The Practise of Programming" by Kernighan & Pike, which 
BTW, can be usefully read to improve your programming in almost any 
modern language and you have a solid basis for any programmer's reference 
library. This book takes over where the language teaching texts leave off 
and contains sound advice in writing code that is well structured with a 
sensible naming convention, while also being easy to debug and easy to 
read and maintain. 

Top those off with a copy of Sedgewick's "Algorithms" and you have the 
basis of a programming reference library that will serve you well for a 
very long time.


-- 
martin@   | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org       |

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Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java cate3@panix.com (Henry Cate) - 2013-12-16 17:11 -0500
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java markspace <markspace@nospam.nospam> - 2013-12-16 14:23 -0800
    Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Joerg Meier <joergmmeier@arcor.de> - 2013-12-17 00:06 +0100
    Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java cate3@panix.com (Henry Cate) - 2013-12-16 19:05 -0500
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2013-12-16 17:25 -0500
    Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java cate3@panix.com (Henry Cate) - 2013-12-16 19:01 -0500
      Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2013-12-16 22:42 -0500
        Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2013-12-16 23:36 -0500
          Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java cate3@panix.com (Henry Cate) - 2013-12-17 14:37 -0500
            Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2013-12-17 22:33 +0000
              Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-12-17 18:02 -0500
              Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java cate3@panix.com (Henry Cate) - 2013-12-17 18:25 -0500
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-12-16 21:58 -0500
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java "Charles Hottel" <chottel@earthlink.net> - 2013-12-17 00:28 -0500
    Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java cate3@panix.com (Henry Cate) - 2013-12-17 14:40 -0500
      Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2013-12-17 16:30 -0500
        Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using   Java Chris Riesbeck <Chris.Riesbeck@gmail.com> - 2013-12-18 12:50 -0600
          Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Chris Riesbeck <Chris.Riesbeck@gmail.com> - 2013-12-19 12:09 -0600
            Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Jukka Lahtinen <jtfjdehf@hotmail.com.invalid> - 2013-12-20 13:04 +0200
              Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Lars Enderin <lars.enderin@telia.com> - 2013-12-20 16:54 +0100
                Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2013-12-21 13:02 +0000
          Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Chris Riesbeck <Chris.Riesbeck@gmail.com> - 2013-12-19 12:22 -0600
          Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-12-30 15:14 -0500
          Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom2@eastlink.ca> - 2014-01-02 01:58 -0400
            Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2014-01-02 20:26 -0500
      Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2013-12-17 18:01 -0500
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2013-12-17 08:09 +0000
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2013-12-17 13:49 -0800
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Ali Sh <ali.shahrivarian@gmail.com> - 2013-12-18 03:44 -0800
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java marianne.paradiso@gmail.com - 2013-12-19 12:02 -0800
  Re: Recommendations for an online Introduction to programming using Java Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2013-12-21 05:00 -0800

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