Yay! A bit of accomplishment for me, I just finished your Java course. Fairly good course by the way, good job team. But that’s just learning. For me to become a true programmer, I of course need to go beyond just learning and I need to start coding my own projects. So before I go on my road to become fluent in Java, I have a couple of questions:
1.)What exactly does the codecademy java course cover? I mean, I know that you probably can’t cover every little aspect of the language, I understand. However, is there a way to know if the course is just a general overview (the basics) of Java or is it pretty in depth of the language? I’m just curious if I should try to pick up some other courses or videos before I try to start on my own.
2.) Once I get to this “on my own” point, what are some good ways to actually know how to apply Java to write my code. I remember a newsletter about TDD, so I’ll defintley keep that in mind. However, I was wondering if someone could please tell me about some more principles to help me along my coding journey. External links, self-experience, etc. Any kind of guidance is appreciated.
Thanks!
*Side note: I know Python, but I’m looking for bigger and more powerful languages, such as Java. I will come to codecademy first for my python and Java needs, and as you can tell, I’m mainly focused with the latter as of now. In the future, I do plan to try and learn c#, but that will have to be beyond codecademy of course. I know python, but haven’t been too concerned in becoming fluent with it. So just a note that I’m mainly worried about Java for now, but I may come back with python concerns later on.
That would be a definite should. The course is not strictly basics, but a quick walk through at a number of levels. The learner has to progress to those levels to make any sense of them. A more intensive course would suss out more details.
So the main Java course is like a moderate level? Just kind of an overview of the different levels/sides to Java? I’ll definitely check out some youtube videos, and may hit up another site or two to check out their Java courses, though as for online sites, I prefer to stick to one like codecademy.
Thanks for the suggestion on that, I’ll keep in mind that it’s a definite “should”. But what about the second part? Once I go beyond codecademy and expand my Java knowledge more, what then? What are some good practices and principles I can implement when coding my own projects?
Your continued study of Java will lead up to best practices. I wouldn’t be too focused on that, just now. Learn the syntax and reasoning behind the structure. My only exposure to Java has been here, and from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t cover very much indepth. It scratches the surface. What is the theory behind Java? If you are seriously wanting to learn the language then invest in some authoritative books (Oracle, O’Reilly, etc.) and get at the heart of the matter. Set projects on the back burner until you are really comfortable doing small programs from scratch. Expect this to take a lot of work and effort on your part.
Alright, I’ll try to do that. We’re taught that practice makes perfect after all I guess, so I’ll just pick up more as I go. Anyways, I’ll still occasionally reference back to the exercises here but today I’ll check out some videos and online courses where I can study more in depth Java. I’ll start with small projects, and then go big. I mean, I never really had anything big planned at the moment, but in the future my ultimate goal is to be innovative with the “bigger projects”. And if school doesn’t get in the way, I’ll really try to put in the effort and work to become fluent in Java. Again, thanks for the advice.