Java - Argh, help!!

Well today i found the news what i've been dreading...ive got a piece of java coursework to do for a NETWORKING degree!!! wtf, stupid academics make no sense sometimes.

Anyway i was wondering if any programmers had any good links for complete newbies (yes ive not touched java in my life and dont intend to do so anymore) to analyse the code, what it does and how to describe it using some kind of programming diagrams which describe what the heck its doing (sorry dont know the correct name for em!). i also have to add new features to it but have really got no clue on how to do so!!

I really have no idea how they figured java should be included in a networking degree but it makes up around a third of the total mark so i better get cracking

Thanks for the help.

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Comments

JDMurray

I'm a C# guy who will be starting to learn Java programming as soon as I can pass the CISSP exam and get on with my life. I highly recommend that you have a look at www.javaranch.com for tips for beginners. The O'Reilly book Head First Java is very good too. And you can't beat www.krugle.com and www.google.com/codesearch for locating sample Java code to, uh, "learn from" for your projects. And there might be some more good information in the posts in our Java certs forum: http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=67

Oh yeah, use the free Eclipse Java IDE for writing your apps. All the tools and libraries you will need are freely available.

tiersten

They never gave you a crash course in Java? If they assume that you knew it then wouldn't it have been listed on the course material before you signed up? Do you have any programming experience?

It is on the course probably because they expect you to actually implement network services. That doesn't seem too unusual of a task if you're doing a computer networking degree.

nel

Thanks JD, i'll check em out

They never gave you a crash course in Java? If they assume that you knew it then wouldn't it have been listed on the course material before you signed up?

It is on the course probably because they expect you to actually implement network services. That doesn't seem too unusual of a task if you're doing a computer networking degree.

Nope, ive never touched java in my life - nor has many of the folk in my class which is why everyone is so hacked off. My uni seems to be very biased towards programming although (and i quote) "you's are not doing a programming degree so we will not be biased and make you's do lots of programming" that was the first week or so. So much for that! The thing that annoys me is that its a sizeable mark of my overall module score

The module im doing (which i did not choose its compulsory) is "distributed systems" which according to uni is "an imperitive part of every network engineers role". God knows how. Its all about how remote objects are called using rmi's and how time synchronisation occurs between the two and the algorithms which support it

Should i expect this in my cisco studies?

tiersten

Look at the things JD posted and just search around. There is lots of example Java code out there which you can look at.

You might want to ask your lecturer as well. It can't be the first time that they've set programming coursework before so they must have some guides or links to guides. If all else fails, get a whole bunch of you together and complain

Oh and don't forget your tutor. He/she is there for you to go talk to.

nel

i have a tutor?

hahaha. not at my uni i dont!

I'll ask the lecturer but his the kind of guy where he says "read a book". believe me im all for self learning but i get annoyed with stuff like this at uni.

To be honest, im not going to lie, im useless at programming, cant get my head around most of it, dont enjoy it and not looking to go that direction.

...hmm its going to be a fun month!

tiersten

You don't have a tutor? I thought it was a pretty standard thing to have. Okay. True. I didn't really talk to my tutor much but other people said that usually they were pretty helpful. Where are you studying?

I've always learnt programming languages by just messing around with it initially. I'd work out what is the minimum required to just run. Next would be run and just display something. I'd just build on parts as I went along. It required quite a bit of research for each step along the chain however.

My supervisor refused to accept anything which wasn't typeset in TeX. I had to learn that at the same time as writing my dissertation and actually coding.

Seek out the people that do know how to program and suddenly become best friends

nel

tiersten wrote:

You don't have a tutor? I thought it was a pretty standard thing to have. Okay. True. I didn't really talk to my tutor much but other people said that usually they were pretty helpful. Where are you studying?

I've always learnt programming languages by just messing around with it initially. I'd work out what is the minimum required to just run. Next would be run and just display something. I'd just build on parts as I went along. It required quite a bit of research for each step along the chain however.

My supervisor refused to accept anything which wasn't typeset in TeX. I had to learn that at the same time as writing my dissertation and actually coding.

Seek out the people that do know how to program and suddenly become best friends

ha! that journey has already began. however i find alot of people at uni wont help (must be so they can get better marks or they dont want you doing better than them). ive asked a few mates but they've never done java. there's programmers at work but i think they look down on helping you out in situations like this.

Its frustrating at the min cos i work f/t do uni pretty much full time (only 1 hr diff between me and the full timers) and ive got loads of projects to do at work too...now im just moaning haha! but seriously im swamped cos i have to upgrade our lan and start on the wan shortly - mostly out of hours work and have no time to learn my new dreaded friend!! *rant over*

btw i study at napier.