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Hello everyone,
I would like to learn programming and hoping to get some input as to where to start. I dont have a strong math or logic background. What math, logic or algorithm books or studies would you recommend before getting in to Java itself to get the material and build on a strong foundation.
Thank you very much in advance.
What happened when you looked at the basic Java tutorials? Did you have difficulty understanding something?
Also, in my personal opinion it would be wise to get some intro java(or programming books), before jumping into algorithm or math books. For example, I have been learning to programming for about 9 months. My math skills are decent at best, I picked up The art of Computer Programming, and Concrete Mathematics(both by Knuth), and I am far from understanding it all(granted I didn't spend that much time with it, and instead elected to put it off to the side for now). I am not saying you shouldn't learn more math, but for now, something as simple as Head First Java, or the Java tutorials should suffice. See my book recommendations link for more of my book suggestions.
The only real requirement is motivation, and willingness to spend a lot of time learning.
Thank you for the responses. I haven't looked into Java Tutorials yet, which may be a great way to start for me, I was just very curious to get some replies from people that have gone through it and could offer some good advice as I am starting fresh with no IT background and "liberal arts" way of thinking vs "computational, logical and analytic' as it seems to be the case with programming to me.
You forgot "ruthless, sadistic and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope" ;-) Seriously though, start studying those tutorials; there's not much math in them although there's nothing scary about mathematics, i.e. it offers solutions where ordinary programmers often bail out.Quote:
Originally Posted by JNoob
kind regards,
Jos
Are you guys referring to Tutorial on Java website? How does everyone feel about a Java boot-camp for a beginner or should that be considered only at later stages?
One of the best places to start is: The Really Big Index
I started by buying a beginners book "The Java Way" by Gerard Sparke. Really great intro book with lots of examples and questions exercises at the end of each chapter.
Re the math. I havent needed to do anything more than absolutely basic maths. But for anything complicated a quick google would give you the formula you need, and generally it's not too complicated to convert the formula in Java.
The java Oracle tutorials page is an excellent place to start as well.
Oh yeah, I forgot. In order to be any good at it, you will need to do lots of practice. Reading books is great for theory and to look at code, but to really understand and learn, you need to actually code stuff.
Good luck
Al