Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Jerry Stuckle Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: Beginner Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2015 21:53:32 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 105 Message-ID: References: <33e782a9-792d-44f1-ab5f-4cdc2a7b8174@googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 01:51:35 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="8b88f1819ae50b8afa97a5cef254b303"; logging-data="1021"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/y5N/Fjhx2uo084SxiZKcCxPWnMWGr9m8=" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.2.0 In-Reply-To: Cancel-Lock: sha1:soHDqSlD+6hMhW1uQa2HK4dSH7o= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.java.programmer:32549 On 9/6/2015 9:44 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote: > On 9/6/2015 8:30 PM, F. Berisha wrote: >> In article <33e782a9-792d-44f1-ab5f-4cdc2a7b8174@googlegroups.com>, >> arya.neelan@gmail.com says... >>> Am a beginner in java programming and would like to know about books >>> that can teach the basics of java. Keep in mind i know nothing about >>> java >> >> I have been using >> >> D. Schmidt, Programming Principles in Java: Architectures and Interfaces >> >> for teaching Java as a first programming language. It is freely >> available at >> >> http://people.cis.ksu.edu/~schmidt/CIS200 >> >> and has been used as an introductory coursebook to Java in many >> universities. > > I may be somewhat picky. > > But I don't like it. > > http://people.cis.ksu.edu/~schmidt/CIS200/ch2V9.html > > "The Java designers use the term application to describe a program that > is started by a human user." > > I consider Java programs started by a job scheduler to be applications > as well. > > The diagrams are very home made in style - far from UML. > > The code is formatted in a very non-standard way. > > "Java is a wordy programming language, and we must tolerate distracting > words like public, static, void, which will be explained in due course." > > is not a language I would expect at university level - even though > the intention may be to just say that their meaning will be explained > later. > > "The program's spelling and grammar must be checked by the Java > compiler; that is, the program must be compiled." > > compilation does more than that. > > "The JDK can be obtained from Sun Microsystems's Web Site at > http://java.sun.com. " > > the URL still works but it is many years since Oracle acquired SUN. > > "The keyword, public, indicates that the class can be used by the > ``general public,'' which includes other objects and human users, to > build objects on demand." > > again wording I would not expect at university level. And not > very accurate. > > "Figure 3 has an interesting architecture: NameAndDate is the > controller, because it controls what will happen; System.out is the > output view, because it presents the ``view'' of the program to its > user; and GregorianCalendar is the model, because it ``models'' the > computer clock---this is our first, simplistic example of a > model-view-controller (MVC) architecture---see Chapter 1." > > I would not call a main class with System.out and a data class for MVC. > > Wildcard imports is used. > > "2.5 Repairing Compiler Error Messages" > > hmmm.... > > "our application sends messages to a pre-existing object, named > System.out, which is Java's name for the command window" > > again a highly questionable wording. > > It is not easy to write good beginner books. And I am not sure that > I could write one myself. > > But this is a very good reason to pick an existing book written > by someone good at writing beginner books instead of trying > to write something. > > Arne > Arne, I haven't read this book, but I have to agree with every criticism you have about it. I've never written a book (beginner or otherwise), but I have written courses on programming. I admit the latter is much easier, but I would never use the wording this book uses in a course, much less a book. -- ================== Remove the "x" from my email address Jerry Stuckle jstucklex@attglobal.net ==================