I know Java.. now what?

[vitinho444]

Hey guys,
I see many people in my country learning java... so i tried to learn it.. it was a piece of cake, very similiar to Unityscript (javascript) and c++ .. Easy.. i master it ( more or less ) but what now? What can i build in java.. ?

In c++ i would move to making a game, but in java? meh its not that appreciated i guess..

Anyone recommend a project or something to do in it?

[Jackolantern]

Java, a lot like C# in .NET, is really wide open. You can do web development with it (I suggest Play framework), you can make desktop apps, games (check out jMonkey, which is awesome), browser game servers (check out jWebSocket), Android apps (check out the official API, which is Dalvik Java, but close enough), and much more. Java is everywhere, but that can sometimes make it a bit hard to make a decision on where to start.

[hallsofvallhalla]

There is no such thing as knowing a language or learning it and being done nor can you possible learn Java, C++, .Net PHP, ect in under 5 years. There are thousands of libraries and frameworks and thousands of ways of doing one thing. You can learn the syntax but that is like saying I know where the gas, brake, and steering wheel is on a race car so I can race in Nascar or the Indy 500.
I know a guy that has been using Java in a major company for over 6 years and he still does not feel like a master.

With all that said grab Jmonkey and build something.

[vitinho444]

Java, a lot like C# in .NET, is really wide open. You can do web development with it (I suggest Play framework), you can make desktop apps, games (check out jMonkey, which is awesome), browser game servers (check out jWebSocket), Android apps (check out the official API, which is Dalvik Java, but close enough), and much more. Java is everywhere, but that can sometimes make it a bit hard to make a decision on where to start.

Thanks, i will see the web first and then maybe games

There is no such thing as knowing a language or learning it and being done nor can you possible learn Java, C++, .Net PHP, ect in under 5 years. There are thousands of libraries and frameworks and thousands of ways of doing one thing. You can learn the syntax but that is like saying I know where the gas, brake, and steering wheel is on a race car so I can race in Nascar or the Indy 500.
I know a guy that has been using Java in a major company for over 6 years and he still does not feel like a master.

With all that said grab Jmonkey and build something.

Sorry maybe i wasn't clear enough, i didn't mean i know everything, just ofc the syntax and how it works. I just wanted to know (thanks to jacko and you i already do) where to start applying my knowledge.

Thanks a lot

[Jackolantern]

Just a forewarning: When you start looking into Java web development, you will see a TON of talk about Spring. Spring was the old master framework for Java, and still probably the most popular. But good lord is it crazy, heavy, and difficult to work with after you have used a good PHP framework (yii, CI, Zend, Symfony, etc.), ASP.NET MVC, Django or Ruby on Rails. Play is definitely the way to go for right now, since it was made from the ground-up to be a fairly standard MVC framework, whereas Spring started its life as a framework for standard Enterprise development and then somehow morphed a segment of it into a web development framework, and it shows.

[vitinho444]

i checked jMonkey and it must be me because i cant f*cking understand how these engines work.. i cant even use one.. i just cant.. like php framework.. everything looks better to me when i do it from the scratch.. wtf brain.

[Jackolantern]

i checked jMonkey and it must be me because i cant f*cking understand how these engines work.. i cant even use one.. i just cant.. like php framework.. everything looks better to me when i do it from the scratch.. wtf brain.

They all have a learning curve. Some just bigger than others. You won't understand them when you first start using them. It may even take months to get the hang of some of the weightier technologies like ASP.NET MVC, jMonkey, Ruby on Rails, Zend, etc. But believe me, it is worth it. Once you know them, you know them and they can oftentimes cut your development time in half. Something like jMonkey will more than likely cut your development time by 99%, since making an OpenGL 3D game engine from scratch takes years.

As an example, here is a list of some of the things I will never have to do when doing web development in ASP.NET MVC:

1. Manually create a database
2. Write a single line of SQL
3. Write the logic to process a form
4. Write a login system
5. Write up admin permission systems
6. Manually encode/decode JSON or XML
7. Create a language internationalizarion system
8. Integrate a unit test system manually

And way, way too much more to name. Most other frameworks have similar features. Imagine, over several years of web development how much time this could save. Then those weeks of learning the framework seem like a great deal!

[vitinho444]

Wow indeed they do.. Wow all that... that take some time and patience to build from 0...

So in the other post i think you said that i should check Zend right? (for web development), i think i will look very close so i can learn it. My websites are too simple and too un-editable. Maybe i need to learn this new stuff.

[Jackolantern]

If you want to use Java, I suggest the Play Framework. Zend is for PHP (in fact it is by the company who is basically maintaining PHP, Zend, who re-wrote the PHP engine for PHP 3 and pretty much have been handling it ever since). If you do want a PHP framework, you could start off with CodeIgniter first. It doesn't offer as many features as some other frameworks, but it is very lightweight and probably the easiest framework out there to learn.

[vitinho444]

Well since i will start frameworks i wanna start from the language i know best.
I think my problem was to start watching tutorials that explained things from the 0. Like installing something from total 0. That's my problem, since i cant find a complete tutorial on those frameworks, even codeIgniter.. But i will try.

EDIT: Hehehe i tried once more CodeIgniter, and i get it all now already know how to work with it. Only problem in case you can help me is, how can i do style? I didn't learn that..