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Book for teaching Java and programming

kuroyume0161

Graduate Poster
kuroyume0161
Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
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We've taken a younger person (early 20s) into our home for assistance. He isn't working and our location excludes retail-like work (way outside any populated areas). He does have an interest in game programming with some ideas about games he'd like to create. I have an interest in having another programmer in our little home-based company. As best as I can tell, he has never programmed - he thinks that writing HTML is 'programming', for instance. :)

What I'm considering is teaching him how to program and staring with Java as the introductory language (which will make a jump to C++ and C more comfortable for a complete novice afaiac). While I have a large collection of Java books they are not geared to the beginning programmer (as I already have many years of other languages under my belt).

Please provide your preferences on beginner Java programming books. If it starts at the complete beginner level (what is programming, basically) that would be a plus. I'm currently looking at "Introduction to Java Programming, Comprehensive (5th Ed.)" though I'm just starting to wade through the sea of books.

Thanks!
 
I recommend the Head First series from O'Reilly. Start with Head First Programming and then Head First Java would be a good start. There's no game or graphics related books in that series, so follow up with, for instance, Killer Game Programming in Java.
 
kuroyume0161 said:
We've taken a younger person (early 20s) into our home for assistance. He isn't working and our location excludes retail-like work (way outside any populated areas). He does have an interest in game programming with some ideas about games he'd like to create. I have an interest in having another programmer in our little home-based company. As best as I can tell, he has never programmed - he thinks that writing HTML is 'programming', for instance. :)

What I'm considering is teaching him how to program and staring with Java as the introductory language (which will make a jump to C++ and C more comfortable for a complete novice afaiac). While I have a large collection of Java books they are not geared to the beginning programmer (as I already have many years of other languages under my belt).

Please provide your preferences on beginner Java programming books. If it starts at the complete beginner level (what is programming, basically) that would be a plus. I'm currently looking at "Introduction to Java Programming, Comprehensive (5th Ed.)" though I'm just starting to wade through the sea of books.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

As a 30 year programmer, I would start him out on BASIC. That will teach him how to program. How to think like a programmer. From there he can move to more advanced languages.
 
While agreeing with BASIC (had considered it), I want to avoid procedural languages and get him up on OOP (yes, I realize that VB.Net is OO). When (if) we get to C++, I can slowly introduce procedural concepts from C within it. Python, while it is an easy and powerful OOP language won't translate to C++/C as simply due to its differences. I myself can handle it having been programming for 20 years but it might cause issues later on for him when transitioning. Plus, I've only a bit of experience with Python so far (going through the "Programming Python" tome which probably isn't the best approach to get your hands dirty I admit).
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
As a 30 year programmer, I would start him out on BASIC. That will teach him how to program. How to think like a programmer. From there he can move to more advanced languages.
Click to expand...

Don't worry, I'll be teaching him how to program and how to think in that regards. Mainly the books will be used as 'homework' and loose course direction while I'll be instructing on design, deconstruction, flow, and other concepts.
 
Leif Roar said:
I recommend the Head First series from O'Reilly. Start with Head First Programming and then Head First Java would be a good start. There's no game or graphics related books in that series, so follow up with, for instance, Killer Game Programming in Java.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. I already have the last book in my Amazon Wishlist. :)

Thanks!
 
kuroyume0161 said:
While agreeing with BASIC (had considered it), I want to avoid procedural languages and get him up on OOP (yes, I realize that VB.Net is OO). When (if) we get to C++, I can slowly introduce procedural concepts from C within it. Python, while it is an easy and powerful OOP language won't translate to C++/C as simply due to its differences. I myself can handle it having been programming for 20 years but it might cause issues later on for him when transitioning. Plus, I've only a bit of experience with Python so far (going through the "Programming Python" tome which probably isn't the best approach to get your hands dirty I admit).
Click to expand...

I withdraw my recommendation. It will be better to learn OO from the start, rather than procedural first then trying to wrap your brain around OO. It's quite a leap.
 
Personally, i would get him started on C first and then introduce him to C++. After he gets fluent in these, he can go to Java.

The reason is rather simple. First of all, C is somewhere between Assembler and high-level language. It allows one to learn the basics, while at the same time implement hardware-dependent performance stuff. C++ is the natural follow up into OO languages. It mixes well with what you have learned in C, while giving you the chance to do OO stuff.

Java then as a last resort. I mean, well, it is nice that Java code is _supposed_ to run everywhere, but the reality is different. Also, everything that uses actual screen I/O is damn slow in Java. Yes, i know, there are platform specific extensions to make that fast, but then, why use Java in the first place if you have to depend on platform specific stuff anyways?

At least for someone who has the idea of programming games, Java is essentially a no-go. Unless, of course, you want to frustrate him so much that he cares more about application programming for your company ;)

Greetings,

Chris
 
kuroyume0161 said:
Please provide your preferences on beginner Java programming books. If it starts at the complete beginner level (what is programming, basically) that would be a plus. I'm currently looking at "Introduction to Java Programming, Comprehensive (5th Ed.)" though I'm just starting to wade through the sea of books.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Instead of a book check out this fantastic video tutorial for beginners from Stanford.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkMDCCdjyW8
I've never seen a more engaging teacher. I can recommend it for freshing up the skills too. The examples he works with can all be done via home.
A site that was helpful was Javaranch.com
A book..hmm.. the sun java tutorials book :)
 
Java for Game Programming is a bad Joke. Just like Python, no real Programmer would ever use it.
I suggest using C# to get started, its not harder to learn and it can be used to get some serious Stuff running (on Windows only, forget mono).
Of course, good old C++ would be the ultimate solution, but it sure is complicated.
 
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