4 answers
4 answers
Updated
Allison’s Answer
Hi Ismael! The best way to learn is to practice. I know it sounds scary, but you can do it!
Here are some steps:
1) Do some research on different types of computer science jobs.
2) Look at common programming languages that fit the job descriptions that you are interested in. For example, Python, C/C++, Java, etc.
3) Choose a language to start learning in.
4) Search beginner programming projects.
5) Download an IDE (integrated development environment). There are many free ones and depend on the language you are coding in.
6) Start a project!
There are great websites to teach you online for free. In college, professors don't even give us textbooks anymore. They just give us websites to reference. You definitely can learn with a little hard work and a lot of googling!
Here are some steps:
1) Do some research on different types of computer science jobs.
2) Look at common programming languages that fit the job descriptions that you are interested in. For example, Python, C/C++, Java, etc.
3) Choose a language to start learning in.
4) Search beginner programming projects.
5) Download an IDE (integrated development environment). There are many free ones and depend on the language you are coding in.
6) Start a project!
There are great websites to teach you online for free. In college, professors don't even give us textbooks anymore. They just give us websites to reference. You definitely can learn with a little hard work and a lot of googling!
Updated
Anna’s Answer
Ismael,
Manish has provided an answer with direct recommendations to specific resources to learn Java. There are many out there - including a number of free courses on coursera.org, edX.org, khanacademy.org among others - almost too many to pick!
As an academic advisor for the College of Computing of a large public university, I often see students focusing on specific syntax for a language and often hear professors lamenting that students do not put efforts into learning the logic of programming and then apply that logic to a particular language with particular syntax. Thus, I use the opportunity to encourage you to strive to learn the logic of good programming, not just the particular Java syntax. To that end, I want to recommend a free book that you can use - Programming Fundamentals - https://press.rebus.community/programmingfundamentals/ If you want some more specific resources for Java you may like the following two - Think Java - https://greenteapress.com/thinkjava6/thinkjava.pdf and Java, Java, Java - http://www.cs.trincoll.edu/~ram/jjj/jjj-os-20170625.pdf
Our faculty use these as the fundamental texts for our programming I and II courses.
Best wishes,
Anna
Manish has provided an answer with direct recommendations to specific resources to learn Java. There are many out there - including a number of free courses on coursera.org, edX.org, khanacademy.org among others - almost too many to pick!
As an academic advisor for the College of Computing of a large public university, I often see students focusing on specific syntax for a language and often hear professors lamenting that students do not put efforts into learning the logic of programming and then apply that logic to a particular language with particular syntax. Thus, I use the opportunity to encourage you to strive to learn the logic of good programming, not just the particular Java syntax. To that end, I want to recommend a free book that you can use - Programming Fundamentals - https://press.rebus.community/programmingfundamentals/ If you want some more specific resources for Java you may like the following two - Think Java - https://greenteapress.com/thinkjava6/thinkjava.pdf and Java, Java, Java - http://www.cs.trincoll.edu/~ram/jjj/jjj-os-20170625.pdf
Our faculty use these as the fundamental texts for our programming I and II courses.
Best wishes,
Anna
Updated
Manish’s Answer
Congratulations! You have discovered the correct first step to learn any programming language, not just Java. Often, beginners tend to overlook the prerequisites of learning a language (such as learning the syntax) and try to jump on to writing code straight away, which they naturally find quite challenging. Anyway, when I first started learning Java, I went through the "Head First Java" book from start to finish. It strongly helped solidify my fundamentals!
This book has several diagrams throughout, which massively helps learning (at least it did in my case), rather than just large chunks of text. Here is the amazon link - https://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-Brain-Learners/dp/0596004656 and if you prefer to read it online for free, here is the book on GitHub - https://github.com/indrabasak/Books/blob/master/Head%20First%20Java%2C%202nd%20Edition.pdf.
Good luck!
This book has several diagrams throughout, which massively helps learning (at least it did in my case), rather than just large chunks of text. Here is the amazon link - https://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-Brain-Learners/dp/0596004656 and if you prefer to read it online for free, here is the book on GitHub - https://github.com/indrabasak/Books/blob/master/Head%20First%20Java%2C%202nd%20Edition.pdf.
Good luck!
Updated
Nir’s Answer
I think the best way to really learn the ins and outs of a language is to build your own project with it. Try creating a basic website with a backend built entirely in Java. It's a gruelling process but you end up really learning it because like everything else, experience is the name of the game.