What are your thoughts on Java?

I'm learning how to code, and the first thing that's on the list is JAVA. Is it a viable environment?

It depends on what you are wanting to code

If you are looking to make web applications I would go with PHP, or maybe .net
Java is an awesome language, and you can make mobile applications with it which is sick!

Drop me a PM or post here if you have any questions about the languages

meh.

Upsides... well-documented and lots of examples. Also used by a fair number of corporations, mostly for enterprise stuff. It is also reasonably cross-platform and has a pretty good 3rd-party ecosystem.

Downsides... It really depends on what you're trying to do. If it's for personal use you can go a long way with java... although I would look to more popular and accessible languages like php, javascript, and even .net before java. If it's for software to distribute I would give it a hearty thumbs down (my opinion). Also, it has a history of being slow and ugly (although that's more often a reflection of programming skill than platform choice).

Reminds me of a joke I once heard about how to tell what a piece of software was written in... If it's fast, it's c. If it's slow, it's VB. If it's slow and ugly, it's Java.

But seriously, coding is different strokes for different folks. A lot of people swear by java. Personally, I hate it. But without knowing more about what you're looking to do there's really no way to give anything other than a blind opinion.

If I was starting from scratch today I'd probably lean heavily towards PHP if I'm doing web stuff and c#/.net if I'm doing desktop stuff. I won't say they're the best (since that can start a semi-religious war), but I do think they're both very accessible with *tons* of free resources, tutorials, and examples available on the web (which should be a high priority for someone just getting started).

Next year I'll be learning C++
Should I keep working with desktop apps as the professor assigns or focus on mobile apps and learn C++ ahead of schedule?

BTW: I know PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and about to finish JAVA and leaning for both personal and enterprise applications.

Which platform are you targeting with c++ on a mobile. From what I know about mobile platforms you'd be missing the biggies if that's your focus. iOS (Apple) is Objective-C, Android is a Java variant (iirc) and Windows Phone is Silverlight.

Obviously there are other platforms... but I wouldn't even consider anything else at this point. Well, except maybe the new BlackBerry platform... but that's an html5/javascript variant, I think.

Anyway... back to your question. In my experience, nothing beats tinkering, testing, experimenting, screwing up, and getting outside the classroom when it comes to coding. The hacker mentality is invaluable.

Find a problem that intrigues you then figure out how to solve it. It almost doesn't matter which language you use... just start coding.

That's what works for me, anyway... and I've been doing this a loooong time and made a lot of money as a professional programmer, software business owner and, most recently, hacker king ;-)

Some people learn best in a classroom with books and scripted examples. Most successful coders that I know work best by doing and experimenting.

Both java and .net were developed as an alternative to c++ to make programming easier for beginners and consist of pre-made solutions(classes) for common tasks. For example resizing a picture with c++ is a major pain, and in java or .net it is only a couple of lines of code. But a working c++ code can resize 20 000 images in 5 minutes while in net / java it takes 8 minutes. So it's either longer development or slower speeds.

With java you have to rely on Sun to provide you with a framework to access Windows. It's fine if you plan on creating relatively independent programs but becomes problematic if you'd like to use a browser, create and manipulate office documents, connect to databases, automate clicks, write directly to memory of other processes.

The .net languages also use a framework but that is developed by Microsoft itself and can tap into windows pretty unrestricted.

PHP is useless because you'll constantly uploading your code to some sort of web server either hosted on your PC or at your provider. On the other hand it's a great language to actually make the webserver do stuff like showing or hiding ads depending on visitor's country, create cookies and so on.

What I would do is learn java (because you obviously need to for your courses) and try to complete the same objectives with C#. The syntax is pretty similar so it shouldn't be confusing. Jumping into c++ would be an overkill. As a college student you can get the IDE for free from MS under http://www.dreamspark.com
A nice book for the basics is the C# Step by Step by MS Press.

BTW, I am not a fanboy but I like all this. Microsoft wants to make money by selling its OS. An OS is only popular if there is lots of software for it. That's why many programming tools are offered free so developers can get on the same train and make money in the process. Whether you'll be selling scrapers or lists made with those scrapers is a business decision.

Java has a lot of boilerplate (as does C#). I really prefer Python or Ruby for the web. They're pretty turse, have very readable syntax and are easy to deploy (with Google App Engine or Heruoku)

If you're learning how to code, then you should stick with a language that requires you to know and understand all of the basics, such as C or C++. For the absolute newbie, Java or C# could be a viable option, however be advised: these "conglomerate" programming languages will at a later point make you think everything can be accomplished with the right class import, thus depriving you of the creativity programming is all about. Java is an easy language to pick up (although I personally hate it ), but try not to be mesmerized by its (and .NET's): "we have included everything" policy.

It is object oriented ,secured ,
and better for web service.
I am positive for it.

...and enterprise applications.

Click to expand...

Java might not be everybodys favorite but its certainly a nice language to get into object oriented programming... So no harm in learning java
As for enterprise applications java is still widely used and will continue to do so! Have a look at J2EE!!! Besides on top of the JVM there are a lot of other "cooler" languages like scala or groovy for example you can get into easily when you know java...

cheers olystyle

I do basic in java and understand it very well. But thing is I am confused either go with java or c++. Which is widely used and what's it's scope.

I'm mainly programming in Java, but I also have tried C#, wich also rocks and seems easier than it.
I like JAVA as you can use your code on web, mobiles and many OSs with small code modifications.

Anyways, most of the people don't like it - I'm talking about the users and not the coders. Even when I was not programming the JAVA name was strange to me. Now I love it, as it's really powerfull.

Java is a great language to start with! It is also the most widely used programming language in the world (because it is cross platform).

It truly depends on what you want to achieve, Java is great for building desktop(JSE) & web apps (JEE). If you are looking to build a cross platform application and if you don't want to code again for each platform then you could go with java as java compiles to byte code it can be run anywhere JVM is available.

I would also suggest you to use an IDE instead of using command line as an IDE can make it alot easy

I think java is not a good choice, Now I'm a java programmer, java use to code B/S(browse/[FONT=arial, 宋体, sans-serif]Server)[/FONT]sofeware[FONT=arial, 宋体, sans-serif], for example, forum,facebook, and c is use to code C/S(client/server) sofeware, for example, skype. If you like B/S sofeware, I think php is a good choice, it's easy and useful, if you like C/S browse, c# is easy than c to study.[/FONT]

Although I personally always steer clear from JAVA, here is an interesting talk on the subject:

The Rise and Fall and Rise of Java - Stephen O'Grady

Look at this horde of necro'ing mother fuckers.

Get a distance to this thread and posts. Some of it as such BS so it is painful to read.

Java is a great technology, espacialy for writing web -applications-, and don't eve try to compary it to Ruby or PHP !

Ruby and PHP are scripting. interpreted language for very small websites, not -applications-, especially enteprise solutions. The difference is incredibly huge, with possibilitied and with size of learning trail.

Want to be a pro developer ? go into C# or Java, want to make small websites, scripts etc. you can go for PHP/Ruby/Python.

Almost all people dosen't even understand difference between website and web application. Forgot about backgourn services with PHP, ultra scalability etc.

Also, forgot about efficiency and learning C++ as main language if you don't want write code for devices not PC's. The truth is, that any efficiency will be need in 1% or less of your code,
and there is no reason to create other 99% code with painful C++, espacialy if you can always skip to lower level by using DLL.

Java isn't "great for mobile" , "super compatible with many OS", if you write GUI application for win/linux, you will not run in on a phone etc. te 90% market of java is I think, enterprise web soluition, with huge systems divided into lot of modules, running on clusters of server - this is a place where Java fits perfect.

But, you can also easily create Android applications or Windows/Linux GUI apps, even with drag-drop GUI creators, like with .NET.

I worked lot of years in PHP, and severals years with Java, and I can compare it's learning trails like "Java is at least 20 times bigger than PHP, with possibilities, efficiency and amount to things to learn", so this is quite big factor. Want to be a pro Java programer - be prepared to read tens of thausands pages of books/tutors/documenations and write hundreds of thausands lines of code before you be a good programer ! you can achieve this in PHP about 10x times faster in my opinin, but there is a reason to going Java way - think about it.

Don't think at sentences like "Faceboko is written in PHP" or "Java is slow".... If you will go deep into it, you will understand why, after several months or years with Java and general programing that would be stupid sentences for you.

java was more better for developing mobile application and server oriented development......

Well my opinion on this matter is that if your are "nearly finished" Java is that you should keep on trucking with it. I don't see how you could be nearly finished. You will never be nearly finished unless you spend your whole time reading the API which should take a couple of years lol.

Keep it up thou, practice with Java, since you know PHP learning Java will only be a benifit. After Java learn C#, there nearly the exact same. You will then certinaly have all the theory down, you should know it off by heart by then and should be able to learn any other programming language in no time at all.

The only problem that should ever arise after learning Java would be the syntax of any language. So after C# you should learn Python or C++ it's really up to you.

When you have all these languages at in your arsenal it depends on what you are doing, you choose the language that is more suited to the requirements of the project that you want to do. Knowing which one to use takes practice, getting it wrong a few times like I have makes you learn which one to use fast lol.