[dogwood]

I have been readying Thingking in Java and have understood the very basic concepts of Java OOP. However the example code in Thingking in Java is very contrived, and I need to see real Java code.

The question what is the best way to practically do my first real Java. I have been looking for some simple Java code that I could play with for a Swing or CL app, but I have only found some heavy duty opensource code, that is way beyond my ability to work with.

Or should I start with JSP and Beans with Tomcat?

If you have some comments I would interest in what you have to say.

Are their any good books that teach Java by example starting with a simple application, and building on the basic code?

[Detrius]

write a simple game that picks a random number from 0 to 100. The user picks a number. The game tells them if they are too high or too low until they get it right.

Your choice for how to implement.

[sadie]

There are lots of good books out there. I learned from Java Gently, but I've heard a lot of people recommend O'Reilly's Learning Java as a good guide.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnjava2/

But as the Detritus said, sometimes the best way to learn is to make it up as you go along. Just start writing something you want to write, and let the language learning follow. And don't be afraid to write things that are gonna get thrown away!

[Mactoid]

I always like playing around with graphics to learn a new language. Something like writing a program that generates the Mandelbrot set is a good way to start, IMHO

[PBG4 User]

goto java.sun.com and look for their tutorials. There is tons of sample code and training guides.

[dogwood]

I have just started using the java.sun site. I have started by creating my first program, Just a sort of Mad Hatter Program that takes all these little applications I find like a temp converter + a clock + calculator and creates and improves it in a tab view, hope to get a whole bunch of these mini apps together and play with Java Concepts in my small application.

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But as the Detritus said, sometimes the best way to learn is to make it up as you go along. Just start writing something you want to write, and let the language learning follow. And don't be afraid to write things that are gonna get thrown away!
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And well that is what I am doing, I think leanring a new language like Java by ourself, can be very intimidating, not knowing were to go and start.

Start expecting my Java questions soon.

[bygimis]

Originally posted by dogwood:
[B]I have been readying Thingking in Java and have understood the very basic concepts of Java OOP. However the example code in Thingking in Java is very contrived, and I need to see real Java code.

If you want to get your head around OO first, I'd avoid the distractions of GUI's for a while and write a Java App to model something. You could try a car hire company, a Theater booking app or something. Model the problem in question, create the classes and make them all worktogether well.

Then you can add a Database back end (mySQL + JDBC?) for storage, and last of all consider a GUI - JSP/Servlet or Swing.

This way you'll be able to concentrate on the modelling and get a good seperation between model, view and controller. You'll also be able to write the GUI without debugging the back end (as it will be working by then).