Anyone know of a good online Java course?

May 11, 2007 7:35 AM

Does anyone know of a good, online Java course? I will be starting an IT degree at the Harvard Extension School this fall and I was advised to take a summer Java course to refresh my skills.

I took a number of CS classes in undergrad (Scheme, Java, C++), but that was several years ago and I'm very, very rusty. I would like to take a course to refresh my OO programing skills in Java. I've checked all the schools in my area (southern NH) and none of them are offering anything suitable. Also, I want something structured, so unfortunately a teach-yourself book alone just won't cut it.

Does anyone have any recommendations for online, summer courses? O'Reilly has one through the University of Illinois and I found a previous AskMiFI question that recommended one at San Diego Mesa College. Has anyone had experience with either one?

posted by tanglewoodtree to education (7 comments total)

My advice would be to download BlueJ, and try doing it on your own. Truly, no class can substitute for actual programming, and BlueJ is designed to teach you Java and OOP in general.
posted by cerebus19 at 7:43 AM on May 11, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Don't know any courses but this post from today will probably help!
posted by TwoWordReview at 8:00 AM on May 11, 2007

Don't know any courses but this post from today will probably help!

Javascript != Java.
posted by normy at 8:11 AM on May 11, 2007

cerebus19: Hmm.. that does look interesting. My reason for not wanting DIY with a book is a lack of structure.. I'm a bad procrastinator. But perhaps I'm being too pessimistic.

TwoWordReview: Wow... those look great. Its not what I'm looking for, but I have wanted to get a better understanding of javascript.
posted by tanglewoodtree at 8:17 AM on May 11, 2007

Look at IBM's developer works site. It's an IBM site, and it has tons of stuff about web design and development, but it also has java tutorials and white papers. Sun Microsystems also has some tutorial information, but I've never found it very extensive.

I would also look at the books "Core Java" vols 1 and 2 by Cay Horstmann and Gary Cornell. The authors don't take themselves or Java too seriously, and they do a good job of explaining the good parts of Java and the bugs in v. 1.5 and previous versions. They don't seem to talk much about anything but Sun's implementation, which is not surprising for a book published by Sun Microsystems Press.

I have to say, I'm not a Java expert, but I do a lot of work with C++ which is similar, if more treacherous and crankier.
posted by vilcxjo_BLANKA at 8:26 AM on May 11, 2007

Javascript != Java.

Ironically, this is almost the first thing Crockford says in that video course :)
posted by poppo at 9:12 AM on May 11, 2007

Oops! Sorry! That'll teach me to actually read the question.
posted by TwoWordReview at 9:05 AM on May 12, 2007