As a java beginner what would you like to see in a video tutorial?

hey guys,

I understand that the majority of people using this forum are extremely well versed in Java, however back in the days when Java was a foreign word to you - did you ever have any difficulties with either your teachers notes, online tutorials etc etc? and if so what do you think would be the most beneficial foundations you would have liked to have been explained via a video tutorial?

The reason I ask is that I am about to commence tutoring a subject in Adv Java and have been asked to put together a series of video tutorials as a catch up for the students, however I would like to create my videos with the no pre-assumption of knowledge of the language.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

David

hi ........i m new in java......

can anybody tell me about JSP versions and what the differece b/w versions and how compatible with struts different versions?

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Originally Posted by bilal_hobnail

hi ........i m new in java......

can anybody tell me about JSP versions and what the differece b/w versions and how compatible with struts different versions?

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I don't think this is related with the learning curve. It's all about the latest/updates about the technology. I think you should aware of that, before update your versions.

Original poster is talking about the learning curve. Correct me if I'm wrong on your thoughts.

I suggest one for the naming conversions. It make a real difference when we are looking into others codes.

Coming from C to java, I really had a hard time comprehending Constructors.

Lets see, what else can be useful..

• do, do while loops
• for, for each loops.
• conditional statements (x == y ? true : false), if/else, switches
• escape characters
• different ways of receiving input from the user (BufferedReader, Scanner).
• Reading/Writing a binary/text file and using the split method to grab the information you need.
• how java does regex, using the Pattern and Matcher classes
• changing the flow execution in a for/while loop using the continue and break keywords.

If you put all those things into a one, not a good idea lol. For me there are three categories.

Java Flow Statements
# do, do while loops
# for, for each loops.
# conditional statements (x == y ? true : false), if/else, switches
# escape characters
# changing the flow execution in a for/while loop using the continue and break keywords.

File I/O
# different ways of receiving input from the user (BufferedReader, Scanner).
# Reading/Writing a binary/text file and using the split method to grab the information you need.

Java Regular Expressions
# how java does regex, using the Pattern and Matcher classes

What you think about that?

hey guys, thanks a lot for all of your information, I will begin constructing the videos tonight.

Do you think its better to teach the basics in a known IDE, i.e. Eclipse or Netbeans or a notepad compile scenario?

Again, thanks

David

Most everyone here will tell you notepad, I think I'm the black sheep who started learning it through an IDE(granted it was QBasic and the "IDE" was really just an over glorified command prompt). I think there are a done of helpful things that an IDE offers the noobie. Auto-import and refactoring are nice but the beginner doesn't really need those. The dot reference listing thing is the most helpful tool I can imagine when learning something new.

Take for example a simple exercise to reverse a String. I would have spent hours staring at my computer not knowing what to do when I first started but being able to just type stringName. and have it give me a list of methods I can figure out things myself and learn other tricks that aren't necessarily required.

i suggest covering debugging issues, especially the common compiler errors.

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Originally Posted by emceenugget

i suggest covering debugging issues, especially the common compiler errors.

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And the difference between stepping over/into/skipping etc. Things like NPEs can easily be fixed by following a debug and seeing the exact line where it goes null. Maybe compare between different IDEs. I hate Eclipse's debugger but I loved JGrasps..or maybe it was JCreators.

Also when introducing inheritance start showing UML diagrams. They help a lot, and from a college student/intern programmers perspective, the first time I was handed a design schema and told to write the skeleton API I nearly panicked until I realized it was just a UML diagram.

regex in a beginner tutorial? Must have missed something.

But, indeed, one of the most important things would be understanding compiling errors and teach'em ways to debug (also without any debugger, but just using System.out.println and such.

I would suggest teaching things which are code independent and relate to computer science, not the syntax of the language. Teach them things like sorting and graphics algorithms, polymorphism, etc. csanimated is a good example

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Originally Posted by DavidG24

Do you think its better to teach the basics in a known IDE, i.e. Eclipse or Netbeans or a notepad compile scenario?

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No, it's not a good idea. Best thing is explain about the workaround on Notepad + Command Prompt. Actually that process you can split into two.

1. Setup Java CLASSPATH, basically about the system environment variables
2. Coding, compiling and running a simple Java class on Notepad

So... the big question here is... are the students using an IDE. If they are, then you most likely want to use a common one. If not, then go through notepad. Another thing you may want to cover, (possibly with constructors) is arrays. They got me for a while before I learned that using Array[] myArray = new Array[arraySize] does NOT actually create an objects in the array. All it does is allocate memory.

As for debugging... if you are using an IDE, cover the common Exceptions/Errors. If not, do that but ALSO cover System print statement usage for debugging.

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I hate Eclipse's debugger but I loved JGrasps

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You don't say... I must admit, in my months of using Eclipse, the debugger still has me lost. Personally, I still use println statements and just follow the error messages. Makes things harder, (I think) but it works.

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Originally Posted by Singing Boyo

You don't say... I must admit, in my months of using Eclipse, the debugger still has me lost. Personally, I still use println statements and just follow the error messages. Makes things harder, (I think) but it works.

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That's exactly how I handle all debugging for the most part. It's easy to just comment out the print statements and when you come back months later you can uncomment them and see what exactly is going on(because after a week I forget all basic workings of my code). I think the only hard part about it is knowing the flow. You have to be able to see if there is anything happening in the background you might not be aware of.

However as far as teaching CS stuff over Java stuff I think it really depends on if this video tutorial is a Programming tutorial that happens to use Java or if it's a Java tutorial. If it's purely Java then there might not necessarily be a reason to go too in depth into things like sorting algorithms, big O notation, discrete math(set theory, logic proofs, recursive reasoning, etc) as important as all that stuff is for CS it isn't really that important for just Java.

You should really learn how to debug properly. Eclipse has an excellent debugger, allowing you to do stuff like browse object trees and view specific stack frames. How are you supposed to know if 3 threads are in mutual deadlock by using println?

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Originally Posted by OrangeDog

You should really learn how to debug properly. Eclipse has an excellent debugger, allowing you to do stuff like browse object trees and view specific stack frames. How are you supposed to know if 3 threads are in mutual deadlock by using println?

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carefully....

Most of everything I know has been self taught. When I get to the point where I'll have to check if 3 threads are deadlocked then I'm sure the debugger will be very valuable and I'll learn to use it. But for something like determining a NPE it seems easier to just have the newbie write

Code:

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if(object == null){
      System.out.println("Object is null");
}

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instead of having to navigate a debug tree that offers a different view(I know CS students who hate debugging and get confused by it. Imagine how the non CS students who are required to take 1 year of programming react to it) it's simpler to give them short "easy to remember" code snippets instead of teaching them a tool they will never use once/if they pass the required class.

In my opinion the purpose of teaching is to teach, not to increase school averages and create generations of sloppy code-hackers.

Your example requires knowing that "object" is what's causing the problem, editing the source after the exception is thrown, trying again and repeat. If you use a debugger, and NPE come up, one click will tell you exactly which object(s) are null and what lines they were assigned at.

Lean to use the tools that will make your life so much easier.

hey Guys,

Once again, thank you all very much for you input - I have been using Eclipse and Netbeans from the beginning and to be honest I have found the debuggers to be brilliant in both IDE's!
I have no previous knowledge of the student's background however they will be using Netbeans and Eclipse in their class; this decision was made by the faculty leaders who have been informed that the 'corporate environment' seeks students with skills in Eclipse/Netbeans as opposed to the classical notepad method (which I'm not saying is a bad thing).

Again, thank you all for your input.

David