first year Uni

[Destroyer^]

Hey guys are there any good java guides/tutorials that would put me in good stead? same with website design? for the first year of uni

[Peter Parker]

Hi,

I'd seriously recommend Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java. The latest book costs, but you can get the earlier versions for free:

http://www.mindviewinc.com/Books/

Not sure what your uni syllabus is. Hopefully they teach patterns, refactoring, test-driven development, etc. If not, find some information about those subjects. I lead a Java team at Sky Network Services and we expect all interview candidates to know these things but it's amazing how few do.

As for Web design, I think you'll be hard pressed to find an up-to-date book or tutorial because the state of the art moves on too fast. Try reading blogs or sites like http://www.alistapart.com/ to see what's happening in the real world.

Rgds,
Dan

[arthurleung]

I don't think they teach you Java first year. My mate in computing told me he learned Pascal in first year, and he didn't get to play around with Java until second year.

[Saracen]

I don't think they teach you Java first year. My mate in computing told me he learned Pascal in first year, and he didn't get to play around with Java until second year.

He ought to consider himself lucky - I did Fortran and Cobol. Mind you, it was .... ahem .... a while ago.

[arthurleung]

He ought to consider himself lucky - I did Fortran and Cobol. Mind you, it was .... ahem .... a while ago.

I did Fortran, Shell and Matlab. Though mine is not a computing course

[Destroyer^]

tried having allook at that online book you said but have no idea how to read it lol... even the online tutorials for java tell you to download applications with it yet they dont even work...argh

[PeteSmith]

Most of the computing courses while i was at Uni focussed on Java in the 1st year, although i guess that largely depends on the Uni and the course your taking.

A logical place to start learning would be: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/index.html

[Peter Parker]

Ah, sorry Destroyer, I didn't really consider the 1st year Uni bit properly. I've no idea how much programming or computer knowledge you already have, apart from being savvy enough to post in this forum of course.

If you've not installed Java before and want some hands-on experience at writing, compiling and executing then take a step back from the Java language tutorial for now. Why not try the Getting Started link from the main tutorial page first:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html

[sp3n]

i wouldnt worry about it too much mate - they will start from the a very basic fundamental level anyway, as they will not expect everyone to be on the same level. and depending on your course it is very unlikely that you will start with java, you will probably begin with pascal or c

[Destroyer^]

Yeh i was thinking of learning a bit of pascal as ive avoided program all the time ive been into computers... just want to get the hang of it so tht i know i can do it lol

[Mblaster]

When I started at the first year of uni they taught with the assumption that everyone has no knowledge of programming, so you're not going to be left behind if you haven't learnt it already. Although, learning the basics now would make the first term a bit easier for you