Complete noob trying to learn JAVA.

[oramac]

I've been mildly interested in computers for several years, but just recently got into hardware, and to a lesser extent software.

I've been wanting to learn JAVA, mainly for writing Android apps. Does anyone have any recommendations for where to go/what to do to learn? Preferably something free if possible.

I learned basic HTML using a sort of interactive tutorial (don't know an official name) that had a "code" side on the left and an "output" side on the right so I could see what happened with the code I wrote easily. Does anything like that exist for JAVA at all?

Thanks for any tips and advice!

 

[SirMaster]

HTML is just a markup language, it doesn't actually do things, it just defines how things look. Java is a programming language. To see changes in your code you have to execute the program.

You should probably look into Eclipse or Netbeans as a development environment for Java.

 

[DoubleZedRed]

You might want to take a gander at O'reilly's "Head first Java" It might be just what you need.

 

[Seithennin]

Try this site has a fun tool/game to help you learn java....

www.codeavengers.com

 

[Deinos]

I would probably second Head First Java. Big Java isn't too bad either. Depending on the complexity you are comfortable with, you might also consider starting out on a barebones IDE (Eclipse has a lot of features and is a lot to take in if you are new to this). A more barebones IDE will let you focus on coding and compiling easily. BlueJ works for this. As you get more comfortable with syntax and simple programs, then move over to Eclipse. That way you aren't trying to learn an IDE and coding at the same time. Can get a little overwhelming

 

[cheezies]

Another vote for Head First Java. But even the best books can be difficult to follow sometimes if you're a beginner. So just to get started, I'd recommend you watch some tutorials on YouTube. For example, this one appears to be pretty easy to follow, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIaCURrxU00 (first result for "java tutorial").

 

[cplusplusguru]

edit

 

[CodeAvengers]

Hey thanks for the shout out. I just wanted to note that CodeAvengers teachers JavaScript at the moment which is a little different from Java. But the level 1 course is mostly similar to Java. Its definately a fun intro to programming. So would love more people to give it a shot!