Question

I'm a Delphi developer with aprox 5 years of experience. But now, Delphi seems to be dead, and the job opportunities are smaller. So, I want to begin learn Java, because I like it, and the job market is bigger(and competition also...).

Until now I've searched for opinions about the best Java books and I've founded several books(Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel,"Java 6 The Complete Reference " , complete JAVA for SCJP, etc - you can provide more examples if you want).

Now, what I'm asking you: when you start to learn a new programming language (in this case Java) which are the steps you're following?

How do manage the learning curve? (how you allocate time for different chapters and technologies)

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

Keep an open mind.

First of all, remembering that you're learning a new programming language. Just like Delphi, Java (and every programming language) comes with an entire set of conventions. One of the worst things you could do is adapt something from language A and basically write language A in language B.

Secondly, I've personally always found step-by-step learning from a book to be a horribly mundane task. I rely on books as references, but I'd much rather jump in the deep end and battle it out till I understand it. In this case, I'd think of a small project that I thought was awesome and then do whatever is needed to implement it. Then I'd go back and locate everything I could possibly improve on.

After doing that a few times, I would bank on knowing the basics of Java. From there, I'd seek someone more proficient in Java and ask for further tips, and possibly get my hands on more Java projects (at work, open source, etc.) if time permitted.