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Re: I'm looking for help learning Java on OS X

Assuming you are starting from scratch in both Java and computer
programming (if not, skim the stuff you already know, but do work
examples to make sure what you think you know is actually so).

One of the best tutorials on Java is free. Richard Baldwin has
created a set of tutorials that are just great. Just go to:
http://www.dickbaldwin.com/toc.htm This is an ad-driven site so be
prepared for annoying blinking ads, and I had a frequent alert box to
which I just clicked OK. Follow the links to the Table of Contents (
http://www.dickbaldwin.com/tocint.htm ). Take his examples and make
variants, simplify the example or change it to make it more complex
(by adding one more of whatever aspect of java you are studying.
Bookmark this page.

Start with lesson: 010 Hello World . The earlier lessons in the list
can be useful but this is where the Java starts. You can even copy
the example programs from the web page into TextEdit, save and run
them. There are instructions for editing and running a java program
(although its for wintel, to convert to OS X, just use TextEdit for
the editor and open a terminal window for the commands).

Note well: A simple java program is made up of one class;
complicated Java programs are more than one class. So remember: The
name of the file holding a java class must have the same name as the
class. In other words, if your class is named MyFirstClass, then the
file you save it in must be MyFirstClass.java and the capitalization
is important.

Use TextEdit and javac, and java to create and run your programs.
Similar to what Baldwin says in:
http://home.att.net/~baldwin.dick/Intro/Java010b.htm

Initially keep the tools as simple as possible until the Java
concepts and details are well learned. I prefer to not use a fancy
IDE when starting out in a programming language. One needs to keep
simple as much as possible and starting with an IDE requires extra
effort. (Now I know, someone out there is thinking: "Hey! Learning
an IDE is not so difficult. It only took me <insert favorite time
span, i.e. an hour.. or a day> to learn <insert favorite IDE>". But,
in fact at some time each person has taken serious time to learn
their first IDE and it took much more than an hour or a day. It may
have been Hypercard in 1987, but it took a substantial amount of
time.) Initially, keep the tools simple.

Baldwin has Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced lessons and can
keep you busy for a some time. Eventually you may want a more
detailed description of some of Java's features. For that you can
use Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java (also on the web and also free,
see http://www.mindview.net/Books/DownloadSites ) The SECOND
edition is a finished product and Bruce is working on the THIRD
edition; download which ever one you want, or both. TIJ goes into
detail about each feature of Java and has plenty of compact examples
( download the code too!). While the programs clearly illustrate
Java principles they don't really do anything useful, but there is an
O'Reilly book for that.

Of course, there is the Java Tutorial from Sun. Located at:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/ and can be a useful
document. Here is where the Java language page begin:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/index.html

Orielly comes to the rescue with Java Examples in a Nutshell, 2ND
EDITION. This is "java EXAMPLES in a nutshell", not "java in a
nutshell", be sure to get the right one. It has a web page at
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/jenut2/ from which you can download
the code. So this book costs some money. It has many, many
examples, most of which are useful in some way. A good book to buy
after you have asked yourself, "OK, so I know some Java, but what can
I DO with it?"

From here, study other peoples' code. From Source Forge, for
example. There are many mailing lists and other sites that you can
find if you surf around a bit. One site that I like is:
http://www.ibiblio.org/javafaq/ with daily/weekly news about Java
and related stuff and http://www.javaworld.com/ is also very useful.

Have fun.

Ted


>
>Rick Klint wrote:
>>I9m am trying to learn how to program in Java on OS-X.
>>I am having a hard time trying to find information on learning Java on Mac
>>OS-X. All the books and websites that I find seem to be geared towards
>>learning Java on the Windows platform, and the 3Mac OS-X Java2 sites are
>>setup for people that already know Java. I9m looking for something (book,
>>websites, articles, etc...) that I can use with a beginning Java programming
>>book to help me make the examples in the books work on Mac OS-X . Any help
>>would be greatly appreciated,
>>Rick
>>_______________________________________________
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_______________________________________________
java-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/java-dev
Be sure to read the FAQ http://developer.apple.com/java/faq/ before posting
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
References: 
 >I'm looking for help learning Java on OS X (From: Rick Klint <email@hidden>)
 >Re: I'm looking for help learning Java on OS X (From: Jim T <email@hidden>)



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