Where to start with Java? For 13 year olds?

Discussion in 'Bukkit Discussion' started by TeamGen0ez, Oct 25, 2014.

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    TeamGen0ez

    Hello, I really want to learn Java and make bukkit plugins, I have tried books that help like computer programming and starter stuff, but I do not understand a thing, even if I go over it 10 - 20 times. Anyone know a kid friendly book or something?
     
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    xTrollxDudex

    Oh really? It's probably not a problem with the book, maybe your reading comprehension. I understood it fine and I was 11.
    2 things:
    - Have you tried any examples and seeing how it works? Have you practiced? Java comes with experience.
    - What are you having trouble with? Maybe a human can help you, if you have an older brother at a high school, yin can ask him if he takes CS courses, or ask programmers on social networking, there's all kind of things you can do.
     
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    TeamGen0ez

    My brothers don't help me, yes I have asked a human, my reading seems to be fine, I just don't get variables, and all that other stuff, and the book was for homeschooled kids, I thought it might work for me even though I'm not, but I don't have a clue o.o.
     
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    timtower Administrator Administrator Moderator

    TeamGen0ez Try, fail, try again.
    Keep repeating until done.
     
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    pookeythekid

    TeamGen0ez I recommend video tutorials. That's how I started learning my first Java skills. Not once did a human other than myself teach me anything about Java. So just keep researching, experiment with things, and I do think that Bukkit plugins are an excellent way to practice Java; they're actually all I've done with my Java so far.
     
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    pookeythekid

    bwfcwalshy Lol, I went to go quote myself on saying to look out for those bad practices, but then I realized that I said that in another thread. Anyway, yes, you're right; I meant that, although I didn't really say it.
     
  8. pookeythekid Beginners have no idea what are bad practice. Looking out for them isn't possible.
     
  9. Don't learn perfect coding too early, or your time will be too expensive too soon, so nothing of actual use will get done...
     
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    korikisulda

    If you're having difficulty starting out with the basics, it might be worth taking a look at Greenfoot, or BlueJ which are specifically designed to teach young people, and beginners, programming in Java. You may also want to take a look at Oracle's beginner tutorials. You're already in a better position in terms of programming than I was at your age. I started out with Visual Basic 6. Terrible terrible terrible language :p 頑張れ!
     
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    pookeythekid

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    TeamGen0ez

    Yeah, they are teaching me visual basic on the book.

    Thanks for the help!

    EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 14, 2016
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    korikisulda

    Well, Visual Basic (obviously) isn't Java. Personally, I recommend against using VB (at least at first), as it differs a lot from the C-style syntax which is common among popular programming languages, and it may get you into bad programming practices.
     
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    TeamGen0ez

    For programming practice, would Construct 2 work? I'm using it right now, so far so good, and apparently it helps with some form of code. I guess I learn more hands on with a game maker java type of platform.
     
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    korikisulda

    I'd say that if you're trying to learn to code, coding should be the main focus ;)
     
  16. Offline

    TeamGen0ez

    I am trying to find something, I was thinking of doing what you or someone else did, and just look into code of bukkit plugins and learn from that.
     
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    korikisulda

    And experiment. The most important part is practice ;)
     
  18. Offline

    pookeythekid

    I just got an email from Astral GameServers (my former MC server host, also my website host) that said they're doing Java development tutorials now. I guess that may be worth looking into.
     
  19. Offline

    TeamGen0ez

    Kk, will look into bukkit plugin codes :)
     
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    ZanderMan9

    I would not recommend starting by developing with any API like Bukkit. It doesn't really teach you core Java, all it teaches you is how to hack and patch together code based on minimal knowledge of the foundation language. Learn beginner to intermediate Java first, via tutorials on YT (as for bad practices, just read Oracle's tutorials along with it, and make sure the videos you are watching are done by professionals, not sudo-pros.)

    And don't try learning Java based on other languages. Java is so far removed from any other languages because it revolves entirely around the JVM that lateral entry is practical Hell.
     
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    pookeythekid

    ZanderMan9 Well, indeed Bukkit API doesn't teach you much about actual Java, but I personally think it's a great approach if you don't want to take Java head-on. Also, it's a lot more fun than making various types of "Hello world" programs.
     
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    TeamGen0ez

    Hmm, idk, I tried Oracles, I wrote down what it wanted me to, then took this test thing and failed completely, where did you learn Java?

    That's what I was thinking myself :D I have tried taking on Java like that, trying out new things, but they ended up pretty bad.

    EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 14, 2016
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    ZanderMan9

    [Oops, I hit the like button instead of reply... Have a free like :p]
    TeamGen0ez I learnt from thenewboston's tutorials, at least for the basics. I know a lot of people sort of bicker about him and his bad conventions but... It works. Basically you just need to learn the syntax of things, how everything works. Then you can go on a case-by-case basis. Say you need to use an output or input Stream. Just google how to do that (stackoverflow links are always helpful); because you know the syntax and how the basics work, you can simply use the methods you see in the correct way.

    A lot of peoples' issue is that they don't learn the basis of it all first, and then they don't know how to use what they are given: they can only copy/paste it.
     
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    xTrollxDudex

    Also, I personally had experience with code flow and logic using Scratch (made by MIT) from the state standards course in 6th grade, lots of programming concepts can ba learned from it despite its simplicity (and it's free! Lol)
     
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    pookeythekid

    xTrollxDudex Yes, Scratch is pretty good for logic and general format and stuff like that. Although it is pretty sucky if your goal is to make a really good game. ;P
     
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    xTrollxDudex

    I have to agree with that :p

    However, I did make one for a final project I was really proud of, but it's in my school folder so I can't get it right now XD
     
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    JTGhawk137

    Java takes a long time to learn, I have frequently been trying at Java for a couple months, and I still am at a mediocre level.
     
  28. Offline

    tenny1028


    You may want to learn an easier language like Ruby first. At age 12, I read the book (which I'm about to link to) in one night and the next morning I played around, writing my own programs and stuff. That was my first experience with programming, and maybe you'll understand what you need to know about the programming basics by reading this book and playing around with the Ruby programming language.

    https://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/
     
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    pookeythekid

    tenny1028 is kind of right. Java is one of the harder languages to learn, but it's also not exactly the same as other languages. Learning an alternative, easier language is great to get a feel of the general format of most programming. But if you want to specifically learn Java a lot sooner, then I suppose it may be best to straight up learn Java.
     
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    Blkscorpion2


    Excellent post, good to see they thought about beginners. Thank you for the references.
     
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