Kft1 wgu

tr1x

I hate programming and I have close to no experience with it, and absolutely none in Java. What did you guys use to pass this class? How much Java do I actually need to know in order to pass the four assignments?

petedude

Search is your friend. . .
But I will tell you a bit.
I didn't use the official text much. I used Java Demystified to get warmed up, Javanotes 6.0 -- Title Page for further reading.
Did gobs of googling for various things when I got stuck.
I didn't care for IDEs (e.g. NetBeans, Eclipse) when I started, so I used jEdit for basic editing. IMO, Ubuntu Linux is the best platform to develop Java.
Used an old shareware package for GUI design (JGUI Designer, if you can find it) as it generated the cleanest code I could find for GUIs. The next best thing is a commercial package with a trial called JFormDesigner.
There is a open-source package called Artistic Style that does a great job of formatting Java from the command line.

swild

When I started into KET1 and KFT1, I had no Java experience and my only coding experience was C++ a decade ago. The official text was frustrating because you couldn't have two pages open at once, you would have to navigate to the page you wanted to look back at and then navigate back to where you were.

I went to Barnes and Noble and looked at all the Java books and found that the best author for my learning style is Dietel. The best book I would recommend is Java for Programmers. It covers every topic needed for both courses. Don't worry about getting the most recent edition, get the cheapest one you can find. While new capabilities are added, not a whole lot changes in subsequent versions of Java, even depreciated items can still be used.

I coded from scratch, building upon the previous program I created, learning from the sample code in the book and adapting it to my needs. I like NetBeans, it works for everything I needed. I didn't use a GUI builder, I just started with an empty container and a couple of JPanels and added text fields, labels, buttons and combo boxes as needed.

There is a chapter in Java for Programmers that uses MySQL that I used as my main building block, but it didn't include overloading or inheritance, so I had to reference back to previous chapters to throw that in.

Also, I am currently selling my Java books in the For Sale forum if you want any of them.

tr1x

Sweet, I'll buy that book off of you since you say it's all I need. I just want to get through the class as fast as possible!

demonfurbie

im totally not looking forward to that class at all

tr1x

I know right! I just gotta sit down and read the book I'm ordering from swild, hopefully it helps me as much as it helped him. Then pass the class and forget about Java.

demonfurbie

im down to my last 4 classes and 2 are java ... thats how much ive been putting it off

swild

All I have left is the Cisco exams and the capstone. I knew how hard the Java classes were going to be for me so I actually have been working on them for a while. KFT1 took more time than any other class so far. I just got the congrats email from TaskStream last week and now I will hopefully never have to look at Java again.

jmasterj206

Did you get KET1 transferred in?

Psoasman

demonfurbie wrote: »

im totally not looking forward to that class at all

Me too. I am switching to the B.S. IT next term. I ordered that book that Pete suggested, as I have minimal experience with Java and Programming.

tr1x

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Did you get KET1 transferred in?

Yes. KFT1 is the only programming class I'll have to take at WGU. Other than that I still have three Cisco classes, Technical Writing, and Capstone. Then I'm done Will have my Bachelor's this year!

badub

I made it through the first 3 tasks very easily but can't wrap my head around this final task. Has anyone used a tutor or know of a good source for a tutor?

erpadmin

You could probably use craigslist to find some.

Here's an example from NYC:

new york all services classifieds "java tutor" - craigslist

swild

Go to your local bookstore and check out Head First Java. Most people really like it, however, it didn't work for me.

Java for Programmers is my book of choice. It covers everything you need for that task plus it has great code examples.

radix

The official oracle/sun java documentation and tutorial is quite good and free we used that in our java class

badub

swild wrote: »

Go to your local bookstore and check out Head First Java. Most people really like it, however, it didn't work for me.

Java for Programmers is my book of choice. It covers everything you need for that task plus it has great code examples.

I think I will give Java for Programmers a try since I hear they have good code examples in it.

Mike-Mike

add me to the list of people putting off that java class..