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marcadams
December 28th, 2004, 10:59 PM
Hello;

I've been a Windows developer for over ten year, however, at home I have recently moved to Ubuntu. I have experience in Borland C++, Delphi and C#, however, I would like to learn Java...on my Ubuntu box.

I would be very grateful if anybody could recommend the essentials I need to start developing with Java.

The first issue is probably:- Is it better to start using IDE's like NetBean or Eclispe, or stick to a simple editor e.g. JGrasp? What is the best environment to learn Java?

Secondly, what other installations are essential / make my life easier for Java development?


All your help is greatly appreciated,
Marc

gborbolla
December 29th, 2004, 12:40 AM
Hi,

I recommend to start by following the Java tutorial found at java.sun.com (http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html) and take a look at www.javaranch.com (http://www.javaranch.com) they are both great resources for learning the Java language and since you're and experienced developer you should not have any problems.

For the environment I recommend start by using a simple editor and JDK, since using IDEs gives you no inside language of some basic stuff, once you're familiar with the language I recommend using Eclipse, it's the best IDE I found for Java.

You can find a HowTo for Java in the ubuntu wiki, its great and easy to follow.

Hope this helps.

Greetings

German Borbolla

randy
December 30th, 2004, 02:54 AM
When you get into slightly bigger projects you may find it usefull to use ant. It's far superior to make.

elwis
December 30th, 2004, 07:02 PM
Hello;

I've been a Windows developer for over ten year, however, at home I have recently moved to Ubuntu. I have experience in Borland C++, Delphi and C#, however, I would like to learn Java...on my Ubuntu box.

I would be very grateful if anybody could recommend the essentials I need to start developing with Java.

The first issue is probably:- Is it better to start using IDE's like NetBean or Eclispe, or stick to a simple editor e.g. JGrasp? What is the best environment to learn Java?

Secondly, what other installations are essential / make my life easier for Java development?


All your help is greatly appreciated,
Marc
And of course, take a look at Bruce Eckels free "Thinking in Java". Download and enjoy!
http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/

michux
January 1st, 2005, 04:47 PM
When you get into slightly bigger projects you may find it usefull to use ant. It's far superior to make.

And if you get into even bigger ones, maven will be even better :)

And about the IDE/not IDE question - I would strongly recommend Eclipse from the beginning. It just makes your life much much simplere and it's certainly NOT true you'll learn more using simple tools.
Eclipse offers thousands of great features to learn java fast, like: javadoc viewer (just type class name and then CTRL+SPACE gives you the list of all fields and methods; same with methods parameters, etc), a great debugger, and many many more.
Go for Eclipse.

marcadams
January 3rd, 2005, 11:48 PM
Thanks for all the help. I have chosen my IDE, and installed it.

The links that were posted in this thread for the Java tutorials and references are fantastic - they will really help me tackle this new langauge.

All I need now is some time.....

Thanks again for all your great responses
Marc

Zepp
January 12th, 2005, 05:43 AM
Curious on which IDE you chose?

marcadams
January 13th, 2005, 12:29 AM
Hi Zepp;

Dispite all the encouragement to use Eclispe, in the end I chose JBuilder 2005 Foundation.
The main reason being - i found out I will most likely be using JBuilder in future as part of my current job. So I might as well start getting familiar with it.

Other than that, it was free, installed very easily, had a lot of samples / tutorials (as separate downloads), and is a solid IDE (which includes an integrated GUI development - something Borland is good at <I've used Borland products on WIndows for the last 10 years>).


Hope that helps,
Marc

Zepp
January 13th, 2005, 06:56 AM
Ok was just curious on your pick. Hope happy with the new IDE and happy coding ;)

Joeb
January 17th, 2005, 09:55 PM
Ok was just curious on your pick. Hope happy with the new IDE and happy coding ;)

Not to turn this into a Java IDE war, but I'm quite fond of Netbeans. I've used just about all of the mainstream IDEs and Eclipse was just way too heavy for my use (both as an interface and system resources), plus I'm not a big fan of their SWT objects. Netbeans is very useable and includes a decent qui builder for the times I don't want to hand code swing guis. And, it's 100% open source!

Just my two cents,

Joeb

defkewl
February 12th, 2005, 08:27 PM
Try using Eclipse for IDE when you're literate enough with Java. But if you're still a newbie, I guess it won't hurt using NetBeans though it is rather slow. But you'll get use to it after a while ;)