Thread: confused and seeking advice

it wanted me to download 2 but 6 was the only version i saw

old school. Anyways, JDK 1.2 through JDK 1.6 are all roughly compatible (at least anything that runs on 1.2 should run on 1.6)

If you're looking for a Java development environment, I would recommend getting Eclipse. Simply download "Eclipse for Java developers" (not the one for JavaEE developers unless you want to go towards web development). Note that eclipse for some reason doesn't like installers, so if you're running on windows just extract it somewhere and run eclipse.exe (you'll want to have the JDK and JRE installed, version 6 is the latest).

Another good IDE is Netbeans. I've never personally like it too much, but it's equally as popular and as powerful as Eclipse.

class myfirstjavaprog
{  
   public static void main(String args[])
   {
      System.out.println("Hello World");
   }
}

Ok, so what this does is declare a Java class. If you're unfamiliar with object oriented programming, that should probably be a good idea to learn about first as Java is 100% object oriented (well, you can treat it somewhat as procedural, but it's really best not to).

Anyways, the first line declares that you're defining a class called myfirstjavaprog. Everything in Java must lie inside a class/interface. I'm not sure if you're familiar with C/C++ syntax, but the curly brackets denote block statements. Also, they can be nested arbitrarily deep.

class myfirstjavaprog // declares the class
{ // these denote the block which defines myfirstjavaprog
}

The inner stuff declares the main method. All java programs must enter at the main method (well, there are some exceptions but we'll forget about those for now). The main method must be declared to have:
1. public access
2. be a static method (don't worry about that for now, if you want to know more google the term "static java method")
3. have a void return (meaning it doesn't return anything, not even the null object)
4. Take 1 parameter which is an array of strings.

put it didnt explain what all this did, now i understand

 System.out.println("Hello World")

is a rather long winded version of basics

 print "Hello World"

In a sense, yes. There are reasons why it must be done this way, and they have to deal with the object oriented nature of Java:

System is a class which defines the interface between Java and the native OS. Inside of System there is a field allowing access to an object called out, which allows Java to output data to the standard output stream (stdout). println is a method which takes 1 parameter and prints it to the stdout, then prints out a newline. Rather than defining a "global method" (which isn't possible in Java) called print which automatically prints out to stdout, Java defines a class (specifically, the PrintStream class) which can print out to any stream. System.out just happens to be an instance of that class and it prints out to the stdout stream. This reduces code that needs to be written/maintained.

Here are some good Java tutorials you could take a look at. They're made by Oracle (well, originally Sun) who develop and maintain Java.
The Java™ Tutorials

is such a thing possible in java ? is it easier or harder?

Yes, it's possible (and in fact with a little bit of re-factoring to use enumerations, much easier in Java). Now the question is did you want a weighted chance of getting different materials/colors? If so, it's a little harder to implement, but it's still pretty easy.

public enum Materials
{
    wood, iron, gold, silver, platinum, stone, ethreal, a_weird_metal_that_is_cold_to_the_touch, glass, glass, aluminum, obsidian, diamond
    public String toString()
    {
        return super.toString().replace('_', ' ');
    }
}

public class Game
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		// implemented to get an equal chance for every material
		// code for getting color is very similar
		Materials material = Materials.values()[(int) (Math.random() * Materials.values().length)];
		System.out.println("the item is made of " + material);
	}
}

i was told i would be better to try java as its an easyier language to learn ....so far im thinking i was lied to.

It's a very powerful language. Compared to C/C++ it is much easier to learn (no need to manage memory manually, some syntax is much less obfuscated). I'm not quite sure how it compares to basic for simplicity, but I'm positive that for larger projects Java will be much easier to use.

Yeah, but not using an enumeration.

public class Game
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // code for getting color is very similar
        String[] materials = new String[] {"wood", "wood", "iron", "iron", "gold", "silver", "a strange metal"}; // ... shortened for simplicity
        String material = materials[(int)(Math.random() * materials.length)];
        System.out.println("the item is made of " + material);
    }
}

If you're just programming simple stuff for fun then there's not much benefit of switching. However, if you like programming larger projects and/or plan on doing it more seriously, then I would recommend moving to a more powerful and more commonly used language (Java, C, C++, C#, Python, Ruby).

Actually, from personal experience I've found python very simple to use while still being extremely powerful. It looks somewhat similar to basic, and is syntactically somewhere between basic and Java. Ruby supposedly is similar to Python, however I've never used it.

# this is similar to the above code but in python
import random
materials = ["wood", "wood", "iron", "iron", "gold", "silver", "a strange metal"]
material = materials[int(random.random() * len(materials))]
print("the material is " + material)

Originally Posted by JavaHater

you are not fully making use of the random library

material=random.choice(materials)

I didn't peruse the Python API very thouroughly.

Try Python, you will never look back at Java ever.

I did, and I'm much more comfortable using Java. However, I'm one of those people who fall into the category of those who prefer strong-typed over weak-typed languages. There are plenty of people who are the other way around. My favorite weak-typed language is actually matlab, but that's because I do a lot of scientific and engineering computing (python is a nice second, especially when used with SciPy).

I know a loads of people learn programming languages from "Internet Resources"(I too am learning JAVA this way). However, for someone who is new the concept of OOP(Object Oriented Programming), I would suggest you to buy a book regarding the subject matter, not that it is necessary. I learned the basic concept of OOP from C++, however C++ was not strict on the concepts of Objects as Java is. I remember learning QBasic when I was a kid (but unfortunately have barbecued everything in my brain relating the language). But I can assure you Java is a fun language. It's been my 2nd week so far and I'm already loving it. Besides, there are more Java programmers in the world right now than any other languages, so this means there are more programs written in Java, which in-turn means, these programs have to be maintained and upgraded, which, finally means more job listings to grab relating Java.

P.S. Two of my friends always argue about Python, that whether it is a programming language or a scripting language(I don't see the difference). I have never tried Python, but have been hearing people calling it "The next JAVA". I have also heard remarks saying Java is a "Hybrid Language". If someone could shed light on this matter, I think it would help OP to decide much better.

Python will never be the next "java" for two key reasons (there are others, but these are the main two):

1. Python is "weak-typed". That means you don't have to declare the type of variables, and the same variable can be used to hold objects of different types. Java on the other hand is strong typed. You must declare the type of every variable and that variable can only hold objects of that type (or objects of sub-types via polymorphism)
2. Python isn't 100% object oriented. It does have object oriented concepts in it, but it's possible to program in Python without ever using objects (granted, this could get quite difficult and ridiculously extreme without using objects). Java on the other hand is designed to be 100% object oriented. You could use Java as a semi-procedurally, but it's still object oriented.

I'm not sure what you mean by "hybrid language", I've never heard this term before. However, I suspect you mean that they are interpreted languages.
Java and Python are both considered interpreted languages because they don't compile down to machine code. Instead, they're compiled into something known as "intermediate code" (in Javas case, this is also known as Java Bytecode). Then another program (for Java it's the JVM, in Python it's the Python runtime) reads in the intermediate code and executes it. Machine code can be executed directly by your computer. Intermediate code can't be executed by your computer directly. Note that both Java and Python support something call "Just in time" compilation where the intermediate code gets compiled to machine code at runtime, however they are still considered interpreted languages.

I don't see the difference between the terms "programming language" or "scripting language", either. The lines are so blurred nowadays that it's pretty much impossible to tell the difference between the two.

Originally Posted by mick.bhattarai

P.S. Two of my friends always argue about Python, that whether it is a programming language or a scripting language(I don't see the difference)

it doesn't matter, as long as you use it to get the job done and you are satisfied with it. You can call them anything you want.

I have never tried Python, but have been hearing people calling it "The next JAVA".

Python is not Java, and Java is not Python. However, depending on the person and the situation, Python can be a more productive tool to use for a job as compared to Java.
1) Less verbose
2) Abundance of libraries provided, eg FTP, Telnet, SMTP, MIME, etc
3) Ease of use of data structures such as dictionaries. eg dictionary = { "1" : 1 , 1: "one" }. Note, the keys can have different data types
4) File I/O is easy. (if you look at those code that use BufferedReader etc etc, you will know what i mean)
5) String manipulation is easy. ( eg "abc"[:2] returns "ab". )
6) Python shell enables you to debug/test your code on the fly.
7) many others.

Touche It's always nice to learn new things, though (and dig up old things I did know at one point or should have known when I posted that).

Perhaps I could re-phrase what I posted above:

One thing mentioned on one of those sites you posted to points of the OO paradigm. True you need objects to operate on (which both python and java have), however it's how you use, or don't use, these objects which is important. A key component is missing from the python implementation: true encapsulation or "data hiding". It's really one of the more obscure points and arguable you could say Python has it via the underscore naming convention (for better or for worse).

Does it really matter that Python doesn't have true encapsulation? I'd argue no as long as the programmer has some decent knowledge about the language and CS in general.

In any case, I don't think either language could be argued "absolutely better" than the other. Programming languages are just tools, and you should choose the tool to match the job. Sometimes multiple tools can fulfill the requirements of the job equally well and sometimes one tool is easier and/or better at performing a particular job than another.

I've always been a fan of the "strong-typed" languages (C/C++, C#, Java, etc.). It's really a personally preference thing and I know that there's not really much rational behind it. Both can be used effectively, and equally both can be used ineffectively.