I'm looking to start using Java

[7DeadlySyns]

First off, I have almost no programming experience whatsoever and I want to start with Java. I've been recommended by a few people to start with simpler things like Python or BASIC but I'd rather start with something that seems to have a bit more practicality and is still basic (relative to some other languages). I'm looking eventually to make small games and I've heard Java would be good for this (although if I'm wrong let me know). I know it will take a lot of time and practice before I even begin developing anything that even resembles a game, but I'm willing to put in the time and effort. The reason I'm making this thread is because I would like some advice on some of the following questions:

1) Is Java the right language?
2) Does it make a huge difference that I'm using a Mac (it's the only computer available to me unfortunately)
3) Can you recommend me some websites that would provide me with tutorials and resources?

So far I've found a site that looks pretty useful, [url]http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/index.html[/url], but if you think otherwise let me know. I also have downloaded DrJava (a mac Java development program: [url]http://www.drjava.org/[/url] based off someone's suggestion.

Any help or advice would be immensely appreciated as I am very new to this whole thing.

[scipherneo]

[QUOTE=7DeadlySyns;33836891]
1) Is Java the right program?
[/QUOTE]

Language. And simple answer, yes

[Octave]

[QUOTE=7DeadlySyns;33836891]
2) Does it make a huge difference that I'm using a Mac (it's the only computer available to me unfortunately)
[/QUOTE]
No. The fact that you're using Java specifically makes your operating system irrelevant (in theory), as Java is designed to be a cross-platform language that runs identically on every platform with a JVM.

[7DeadlySyns]

[QUOTE=scipherneo;33838745]Language. And simple answer, yes[/QUOTE]

Woops, sorry I'm not [i]that[/i] stupid, that was just a dumb mistake.

[editline]21st December 2011[/editline]

[QUOTE=Octave;33838840]No. The fact that you're using Java specifically makes your operating system irrelevant (in theory), as Java is designed to be a cross-platform language that runs identically on every platform with a JVM.[/QUOTE]
Oh, thanks. That's good to know.

[cdh473]

[QUOTE=7DeadlySyns;33836891]3) Can you recommend me some websites that would provide me with tutorials and resources?[/QUOTE]

google.
Seriously, there are way too many people who have some weird googlephobia or something

[MitchvW]

I'd say TheNewBoston is good for learning the basics.

[Jinx786]

Yes, java is good for starters and no, we at university use all different systems, from mac to windows to linux and there are no differences.

[7DeadlySyns]

[QUOTE=cdh473;33844790]google.
Seriously, there are way too many people who have some weird googlephobia or something[/QUOTE]

I have been using Google to find some sites, if you read my post completely you'd see that I have found one. I'm just wondering if anyone has any really good ones that they know of already.

[bummie]

I would suggest you to grab a book, instead of watching videos and such.

[7DeadlySyns]

[QUOTE=BummieHEad;33847772]I would suggest you to grab a book, instead of watching videos and such.[/QUOTE]

Any reason you suggest that? Do you have any specific books in mind, or should I just search around?

[sambooo]

[QUOTE=MitchvW;33844924]I'd say TheNewBoston is good for learning the basics.[/QUOTE]

Suggesting TheNewBoston should be bannable

[The Mad Man]

You might want to take a look at the [URL="http://codingbat.com/"]Coding Bat[/URL], it is a website by [URL="http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~nick/"]Nick Parlante[/URL], a teacher at Stanford. It features lots of exercises, where you have to write a little program to do a certain task.

Hope it helps.

[Blueridge]

DrJava can't hold it's own down the line later, when you get into packages and the what-not.

But anyway the best site would be either Oracle's tutorials. Really you can just learn java based on the API docs.

For small games I would discourage Java but I guess it could be used for that sort of thing. I'd reccomend love2D personally for small games but it's your choice.

[toaster468]

[QUOTE=BummieHEad;33847772]I would suggest you to grab a book, instead of watching videos and such.[/QUOTE]

What book do you recommend?

[Bambo.]

All depends really... i would just try our a variety of different languages and see which one you find the most "comfortable" so to speak.
In my personal experience, once you are pretty decent with one language, skills you learn from using that language such as logic.etc are easily transferrable to other environments.
Like i said before, try out a few; C++, C, Lua (LOVE), Java, C# and many more.

[cdh473]

[QUOTE=7DeadlySyns;33847382]I have been using Google to find some sites, if you read my post completely you'd see that I have found one. I'm just wondering if anyone has any really good ones that they know of already.[/QUOTE]
What I meant was don't be afraid to look for the answers yourself instead on giving up on anything that you can't figure out on your own (believe it or not, I know someone that actually does this).

[7DeadlySyns]

[QUOTE=The Mad Man;33848608]You might want to take a look at the [URL="http://codingbat.com/"]Coding Bat[/URL], it is a website by [URL="http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~nick/"]Nick Parlante[/URL], a teacher at Stanford. It features lots of exercises, where you have to write a little program to do a certain task.

Hope it helps.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! I was looking for something like this.

[editline]22nd December 2011[/editline]

[QUOTE=Blueridge;33850110]DrJava can't hold it's own down the line later, when you get into packages and the what-not.

But anyway the best site would be either Oracle's tutorials. Really you can just learn java based on the API docs.

For small games I would discourage Java but I guess it could be used for that sort of thing. I'd reccomend love2D personally for small games but it's your choice.[/QUOTE]
Do you have any suggestions for something better than DrJava?

[Ortzinator]

[url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596009208]Head First Java[/url]

[Blueridge]

[QUOTE=toaster468;33851458]What book do you recommend?[/QUOTE]

Thinking in Java, Head First Java. I'm taking APCS so I don't really need any books for Java but the API is useful enough that you can learn Java by using it.

[QUOTE=7DeadlySyns]Do you have any suggestions for something better than DrJava? [/QUOTE]
[url]http://eclipse.org[/url] is pretty good(Eclipse IDE for Java Developers). I have to use DrJava at school and it's infuriating how badly it handles packages compared to Eclipse.

[Jinx786]

I recommend NetBeans, after I started using it for java programs a year ago I didnt use anything else for java programming anymore. But Eclipse is satisfying too. I even used NetBeans for C when we had lessons for it (not soo very good though).

[url]http://netbeans.org/[/url]