Comments on: Anyone know of a good online Java course?

Question: Anyone know of a good online Java course?

tanglewoodtree — Fri, 11 May 2007 07:35:33 -0800

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?

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Fri, 11 May 2007 07:43:46 -0800

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.

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Fri, 11 May 2007 08:00:25 -0800

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

By: normy

normy — Fri, 11 May 2007 08:11:54 -0800

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

Javascript != Java.

By: tanglewoodtree

tanglewoodtree — Fri, 11 May 2007 08:17:23 -0800

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.

By: vilcxjo_BLANKA

vilcxjo_BLANKA — Fri, 11 May 2007 08:26:59 -0800

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.

By: poppo

poppo — Fri, 11 May 2007 09:12:28 -0800

Javascript != Java.

Ironically, this is almost the first thing Crockford says in that video course :)

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Sat, 12 May 2007 09:05:39 -0800

Oops! Sorry! That'll teach me to actually read the question.