Java Java Java Java...n00b!

[magomago]

After looking around and seriously considering languages such as Delphi and after asking questions here, CV, and many other places I've come to the conclusion that "Java" might be the best programming choice for beginners out there (Hell last year our school dropped VB in favor of Java).

So I had Java on my machine previously on my machine (I had downloaded some 12 meg file from Sun's website) and then I did more searching and it seems that "Eclipse" is the best thing to use to create Java Programs. Also based on the reccomendation of another friend I download JCreator.

So now I go to gamedeveloper (the site in that other thread) a few days ago and they have like 5 different versions of Java.

I thought Java had one version? What did I download that was ~65 megabytes large? I am confused Any help?

Basically I'm looking for what version of Java I would be coding in (I want to create stand alone programs) and tutorials for teh n00b because it seems there is a wealth of info out there but a lot of it address Javascript and specific uses of it...like code snippets. I'm just loooking for "Hello World!" type programs as I make trivial programs that do nothing but amuse myself

 

[notfred]

Javascript is not in any way related to Java. Ignore all things javascript. YOu want the Java SDK (software Development Kit), the java runtime will let you run software that other people have written, but it wont let you compile your own programs.

A simple "hello World!" app would look something like this:

import java.io.*;

class helloWorld{

public static void main(String args[]) {
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}

}

Here's where to get the latest Java SDK

 

[Kilrsat]

Sun has some wonderful guides:

The Java Tutorial

The Swing Tutorial

Examples in english, screen shot, and code form.

 

[SaigonK]

It amazes me that Sun who pushes JAVA has some of the damn slowest JAVA apps out there.....

 

[Buddha Bart]

If you already have some programming experience (even if its something like perl or php) Try a book like "Learn Java in 30 days" from Sams.

The world of Java is nearly infinitely large, so it kinda depends on what you want to do with it.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

I would recommend python over java, check it out.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Java is better than C# because:
- Sun's IDE is free
- it's more portable

C# is better than Java because:
- Sun's IDE crashes all the time and is generally a pain in the ass to work with
- VS.NET is much, much more polished then Sun One.
- Windows Forms are better than swing (though obviously not portable)
- Has almost all the Java OOP features and adds a bunch of new ones

<-- prefers C# to Java

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Java is better than C# because:
- Sun's IDE is free
- it's more portable

C# is better than Java because:
- Sun's IDE crashes all the time and is generally a pain in the ass to work with
- VS.NET is much, much more polished then Sun One.
- Windows Forms are better than swing (though obviously not portable)
- Has almost all the Java OOP features and adds a bunch of new ones

<-- prefers C# to Java

Who uses an IDE? Textpad never crashes on me

Yes, VS.NET is polished, some annoyances, but it gets the job done.

Umm... Swing GUIs are skin/theme-able out of the box. Benefit of windows form is transparency and odd-shapes (although you can created strange shaped swing GUIs, but they only work on windows). I don't think there is a "this one is better".

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Java is better than C# because:
- Sun's IDE is free
- it's more portable

C# is better than Java because:
- Sun's IDE crashes all the time and is generally a pain in the ass to work with
- VS.NET is much, much more polished then Sun One.
- Windows Forms are better than swing (though obviously not portable)
- Has almost all the Java OOP features and adds a bunch of new ones

<-- prefers C# to Java

Oh yeah?

 

[Softballslug]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Java is better than C# because: - Sun's IDE is free - it's more portable C# is better than Java because: - Sun's IDE crashes all the time and is generally a pain in the ass to work with - VS.NET is much, much more polished then Sun One. - Windows Forms are better than swing (though obviously not portable) - Has almost all the Java OOP features and adds a bunch of new ones <-- prefers C# to Java

Your rational about your choice makes me laugh! What does the development environment have to do with the language? Sun's IDE is Not the only ide in the world. To make a choice on a programming language based on the IDE is ridiculous...

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Java is better than C# because:
- Sun's IDE is free
- it's more portable

C# is better than Java because:
- Sun's IDE crashes all the time and is generally a pain in the ass to work with
- VS.NET is much, much more polished then Sun One.
- Windows Forms are better than swing (though obviously not portable)
- Has almost all the Java OOP features and adds a bunch of new ones

<-- prefers C# to Java

Oh yeah?

Ok, so you can program in different gui toolkits with it. You still have to rewrite the gui stuff for each one. Swing works the same everywhere.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Java is better than C# because:
- Sun's IDE is free
- it's more portable

C# is better than Java because:
- Sun's IDE crashes all the time and is generally a pain in the ass to work with
- VS.NET is much, much more polished then Sun One.
- Windows Forms are better than swing (though obviously not portable)
- Has almost all the Java OOP features and adds a bunch of new ones

<-- prefers C# to Java

Oh yeah?

Ok, so you can program in different gui toolkits with it. You still have to rewrite the gui stuff for each one. Swing works the same everywhere.

Umm, the Windows Forms classes are delegated to Gtk#, you don't actually make calls to Gtk# yourself.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: Softballslug

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Java is better than C# because: - Sun's IDE is free - it's more portable C# is better than Java because: - Sun's IDE crashes all the time and is generally a pain in the ass to work with - VS.NET is much, much more polished then Sun One. - Windows Forms are better than swing (though obviously not portable) - Has almost all the Java OOP features and adds a bunch of new ones <-- prefers C# to Java

Your rational about your choice makes me laugh! What does the development environment have to do with the language? Sun's IDE is Not the only ide in the world. To make a choice on a programming language based on the IDE is ridiculous...

I am the first to admit that my rationale for choosing C# over Java is not entirely based on the language. That being said, I took a class to learn Java after I taught myself OOP basics using C# and I was really missing some C# features when I learned Java.

Operator overloading was the most notable exception: sure they're not necessary but they're so handy and make code easier to follow. Also, C#'s "properties" are great as they standardize (using set/get) a commonly used part of OOP. There are a few others that I can't remember off the top of my head that it always bothers me that I can't use when I write Java code.

As for the Windows Forms comments: I was not aware of the development efforts to let Windows Forms code work on other platforms. I did however mean that Microsoft didn't make them with cross-platform portability in mind.

 

[mobogasm]

Try Borland JBuilder for a great Java IDE. It's a resource hog, but it's sure sweet. The pro version is available for free download on borland's site.