A Newbie once again!

[nathj]

Hi there,

Thanks to Bytes I have managed to get up to speed on PHP pretty quickly and now churn out the code at a merry old rate, even stopping to help out others where I can.

At work we are embarking n a whole new project set and there is a lot of development to be done. So, my choice was let's do it in PHP. The trouble is the codeI write has to connect to and integrate very closely with a third party product that was written in Java. My boss asks me 'what Java and JSP course do you want to go on?'

It's great that training is made available but I have no idea. So I turn to my favourite forum for help:

1. Does anyone know any great Java and JSP courses in North East England or on-line
2. Dopes anyone know any really great books that will help me get a march on picking up this new language?

I'm a decent developer with skills in various languages already including a little JavaScript (I know they're different). I've read the first topic here on what to download and am busy reading through some Sun stuff whilst downloading a a bunch of other stuff.

If you have any recommendations for a course or a book please let me know.

Many thanks
nathj

[r035198x]

That first topic is good start.

[JosAH]

The trouble with paper books for anything Java related is that they age so fast, e.g. you can dump all your enterprise beans stuff in the fire place because that technology is being abandoned.

If you're a real Java starter go for that tutorial mentioned in the first post. When you work your way through it you'll read about several Java technologies and their links. Collect what you like and build up your own library.

Also download a few more theoretical books: the Java Language Specification (JLS) and the VM specification are two good ones but quite a tough read. Those books don't read like a novel.

Slowly by slowly you'll figure out what iterests you most (JSPs and Servlets? The Micro Edition (JME)? All that XML crap?). Sun made all their documentation available so there is no need to feel bored during those cold rainy nights ;-)

kind regards,

Jos

[nathj]

Thanks for all the help. I'm currently reading the coding standards as well as the tutorial.

My next question is this:
What's a good IDE?

I know this sort of thing is down to personal preference but what do you use - I gotta start somewhere and currently have no preference. The only things I know for certain are I need t write Java andI need to JSP's

Cheers
nathj

[JosAH]

@nathj
I personally use Eclipse and I like it; there's an 'add on' or 'plugin' named WTP (Web Tools Platform) that allows you to run a web server (or Servlet container) and test and run Servlets and JSP pages. Eclipse goes through all the configuration hoops for you. All you have to do is point at your Servlet or JSP and select 'run on server' and there it goes. Tomcat can be used as well, no problem.

kind regards,

Jos

[nathj]

Great, I'll give it a try. No doubt I'll be back here when I get stuck.

Thanks for your help
nathj

[JosAH]

@nathj
Before you plunge in all that technology try to 'manually' compile and run some self made code (no fancy graphics yet, just the simple stuff), i.e. set up your path and classpath, compile your code using javac.exe and run it using java.exe or javaw.exe (the last one doesn't use a console).

It can be a nice or frustrating first experience but it teaches you the mechanics of it all (and you need that knowledge for later and it makes you appreciate your IDE better).

kind regards,

Jos

[r035198x]

Yep, for those first tests it's best to use TextPad for writing the code and compile and run on the command line (It has compile and run commands but it's best to ignore them in the first steps).

[nathj]

oaky, so I'll give that a go but I have no idea what to try. I have TextPad installed and am happy to use that first but what should I write, what should I call the file, how do I compile it? You see I really am a newbie in this field.

Thanks
nathj

[r035198x]

Don't panic just yet. You will need all your panic energy soon enough.

See in Sun's tutorial here how to start.

[JosAH]

@nathj
If you're writing a class Foo you should name your source file Foo.java, but imho its better (and easier) to follow all the baby steps mentioned in the tutorial; they're your very first steps.

kind regards,

Jos