JAVA a good place to start?

[HEX1GON]

I've currently got 1 3 hour JAVA programming class a week, however I've been following YouTube tutorials from a YouTube user named "thenewboston". I learned quite a bit from thenewboston so far, and very little from my class...How Ironic
Anyhow, is JAVA a good place to start? I think it's pretty easy to pick up but I'm still learning the basics... Did everyone start from JAVA?

[adrianc]

I started on python, then did C++ for a while, then Java then back to C in university. Personally I prefer C, but java is a pretty good jumping off point.

-adrianc

[HEX1GON]

I asked my teacher about C++ and he mentioned they won't be touching on it at all, as it's too advanced. I was a little disappointed when I heard that, but oh well.
How was Python for a beginner?

[Damaster-]

Python is often recommended if you're just getting into programming. Another one would be Ruby. If you're interested mostly in Windows-programming, check out C# & C# Station. It combines features/ideas from C++ & Java and few others.

I would say pretty much any common language is a good place to start, in the end "best" language is entirely subjective and depends on what works best for the project one's working on and what are his/her personal preferences on languages.

No matter what language you're gonna start learning, there's more or less hard work involved to get good at it. :)

[HEX1GON]

I've never seend Python used on anything, although it might be a good place to start I wouldn't know what I'd start using it for...
I should mention that I want to start developing Android applications, which is why I choose JAVA as well, just like you said combining the ideas between the two languages.

C# is a language I'd love to learn, although I've been told numerous times it's a heavily complex language and I shouldn't touch on it yet.
I'm often wondering where JAVA could actually take me, and how long should it take me to cover the basics?

[Damaster-]

There's many entities using Python, although it's more often used for smaller programs & scripting.

About C#, can't really see how it would be more complex than let's say Java. I am currently myself learning C# and like it so far. A lot easier than C/C++ for me. I generally dislike discouragement like "It's too hard for you, do not try it." It's entirely about how motivated you are, take your time and never hurry. Move to next part of learning only when you have understood what previous parts are about. If you're jumping from thing to another without really understanding what was teached before, there will only be failure. What I am trying to say, is that there's no "how long it should take" each has his own capabilities on how fast he can learn and understand.

http://norvig.com/21-days.html is an interesting read for anyone seeking to learn programming.

If Java seems good for you, then go with it. One of the gaming examples that was made with Java, is an indiegame Minecraft which is pretty popular. It's not really your tools but yourself, skilled person can accomplish things that others think are impossible to make. This has happened in softwareworld multiple times.

What's best about programming is that after you have the mindset of programming, you can jump from language to another pretty easily, just learning the main differences & new syntax.

[HEX1GON]

There's many entities using Python, although it's more often used for smaller programs & scripting.

About C#, can't really see how it would be more complex than let's say Java. I am currently myself learning C# and like it so far. A lot easier than C/C++ for me. I generally dislike discouragement like "It's too hard for you, do not try it." It's entirely about how motivated you are, take your time and never hurry. Move to next part of learning only when you have understood what previous parts are about. If you're jumping from thing to another without really understanding what was teached before, there will only be failure. What I am trying to say, is that there's no "how long it should take" each has his own capabilities on how fast he can learn and understand.

http://norvig.com/21-days.html is an interesting read for anyone seeking to learn programming.

If Java seems good for you, then go with it. One of the gaming examples that was made with Java, is an indiegame Minecraft which is pretty popular. It's not really your tools but yourself, skilled person can accomplish things that others think are impossible to make. This has happened in softwareworld multiple times.

What's best about programming is that after you have the mindset of programming, you can jump from language to another pretty easily, just learning the main differences & new syntax.

That's the thing you see, many teachers say it's too difficult just because they either don't know it, or just don't want to take the time to work with you on it. Which is why I'm motivating myself with JAVA to get the hang of programming, well at least the basics. You're right, I'll be sticking with JAVA alone for now until I've somewhat mastered the basics :)

Thanks for your input Damaster- ^_^

[Damaster-]

Oh, I forgot to add that "What's best about programming is that after you have the mindset of programming, you can jump from language to another pretty easily, just learning the main differences & new syntax." is not always 100% true. For example while languages like C#, Python & Java all have automatic garbage collection/memory management, C & C++ for example do not, making you have to do it manually. In cases like these were there are bigger core difference, it can be harder to switch, but still easier than starting with them without any experience since you already know how to program on one or more languages.

[HEX1GON]

All makes sense now :)