Java Programmer in Desperate need of help

[SumDood]

So I recently took a new job after being with the same company for nine years. I did fine there, but it was basically the same thing all the time, several different applications all basically set up the same way. Once I could fix one, I could fix them all. But my new job is taking over a single massive application with a company that just got the contract. As these things go, the company that lost the contract left little documentation. I'm having issues setting up my development environment. There are about half a dozen third party software packages that are used. Everything is set up on Weblogic, with which I have practically no experience. I've made baby-steps getting the project to run on my IDE (two different ones, actually, I've been working on the issue from two different angles), but I'm not progressing nearly as fast as I should be. My boss understands that this is not my forte as I've always had others to configure my local machine and set up my development environment, but its getting to the point where I NEED to make some progress. I'm doing research online for specific issues, and have implemented some solutions there, but most of the time the solutions I read about are Greek to me. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm missing something very basic and simple. I don't even know enough to know what questions to ask.

What are my options as far as getting things up and running so I can do some actual Java programming? Are there online consultants? Do I put an add on craigslist for help?

I want to get better at this, but I don't even know where to start. There is a wealth of information online and I have access to books and courses through my new employer, but I don't know where I should focus my efforts.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advanced.

 

[Wudang]

I'm solely a Spring/Eclipse guy for java, sorry. May I suggest
http://stackoverflow.com
or
http://programmers.stackexchange.com/

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Surely there are people here who can help you.

Can you ask more specific questions? Which two IDEs are you using?

~~ Paul

 

[Daald]

I can try to give you a few general guidelines. They might seem obvious and I'm sorry but you said you could be missing something simple so here I go.

I had to do something like this recently. I had to take over an IOS application and program a very complicated piece in it. I had 0 experience with IOS or objective c. The part I had chose to plug in was GPL so I had to figure out how to integrate something from a make file into xcode. It's pretty tough btw

So how to go about it.

1. Establish what environment was used to create the work. Look at how the folders are laid out. Look for files that are not java files and see what other programs output that structure. If you can't spot it right out, get a few developer tools for java and create small sample projects to see if one of them matches the structure.

2. After you establish the environment they used now you can focus everything on learning the ins and outs of that system. Get a book on the subject and try to set up a more complicated test project. As a matter of fact try to replicate the main project structure as you think it is. This step will throw a lot of errors but since you are on a blank project you are arranging yourself you will learn how to overcome the simple stuff that could be hindering the bigger project.

3. After you can get it to compile start tracing it by figuring out all the main entry points and the different configuration inputs. Then after this it is mainly a tracing job where you will have to figure out the architecture as you go. Hopefully it is not very confused but simply keep notes and plow along.

I do not envy you your job and I wish you good luck. Just keep this motto in your head. Whatever one human can do another can do as well. I hope what I wrote will be of some help to you.

 

[SumDood]

I'm solely a Spring/Eclipse guy for java, sorry. May I suggest
http://stackoverflow.com

Yeah, great site. I'm not sure it's possible to google a programming question without getting at least one result from stackoverflow. It's been a great resource, but also a source of 'Greek' to me.

or
http://programmers.stackexchange.com/

Haven't seen that one before, I'll dig in deeper tomorrow at work.

Surely there are people here who can help you.

Can you ask more specific questions? Which two IDEs are you using?

~~ Paul

95% sure the IDE used before was IntelliJ, due to the .ipr(?) file type. I used JDeveloper at my old job, so I've created a new project from a deployed .ear file.

1. Establish what environment was used to create the work. Look at how the folders are laid out. Look for files that are not java files and see what other programs output that structure. If you can't spot it right out, get a few developer tools for java and create small sample projects to see if one of them matches the structure.

2. After you establish the environment they used now you can focus everything on learning the ins and outs of that system. Get a book on the subject and try to set up a more complicated test project. As a matter of fact try to replicate the main project structure as you think it is. This step will throw a lot of errors but since you are on a blank project you are arranging yourself you will learn how to overcome the simple stuff that could be hindering the bigger project.

3. After you can get it to compile start tracing it by figuring out all the main entry points and the different configuration inputs. Then after this it is mainly a tracing job where you will have to figure out the architecture as you go. Hopefully it is not very confused but simply keep notes and plow along.

1. Got that far pretty quick, figuring out it was IntelliJ used to create the project.
2. I've gotten about as far as 'hello world' in IntelliJ, but that is great advice. I'll try replicating the main project structure like you suggest.
3. Also sound advice. I'll jump off that bridge when i get to it.

Thanks a million for all the responses.