Jayson Falkner's Blog

Blarg #6: How do I become an expert Java developer?

Hi Lloyd, depending on who you ask there are many different answers to this question. However, a great way to get started is by reading the Java coding conventions Sun encourages -- most all Java code you see will roughly follow these. These conventions fall along the lines of standard Java documentation, which is the next place you should look when seeking advice about Java. As a rule of thumb, check Java documentation first and goggle second.

If you really want to practice coding or look at a bunch of "good" code, try hacking away at your favorite open-source project (I'd suggest Tomcat, http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat, or JBoss, http://jboss.org). You'll find lots of code that will show how general Java code usually looks, and you will also be able to see lots of examples of clever coding tricks. Plus, if you can really understand what is going on in a decent sized open-source project, odds are your Java skills are up to snuff.

Some Links

• Java 2 Documentation - http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/index.html
• Java Coding Conventions - http://java.sun.com/docs/codeconv/html/CodeConvTOC.doc.html
• Java Language Specification - http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/second_edition/html/j.title.doc.html
• Java Virtual Machine Specification - http://java.sun.com/docs/books/vmspec/2nd-edition/html/VMSpecTOC.doc.html

Jayson Falkner
jayson@jspinsider.com
http://www.jspbook.com

Comments

• Becoming a coder of note
  Learn other langauges. Try Smalltalk, Lisp, Forth, Ruby, OCaml.

  Even if you end up doing all your "real" coding in Java, knowing how to think about and solve problems in other languages will help you avoid getting into a rut.

  (You may also find that you *prefer* one of those other languages.)

  Posted by: jamesbritt on January 27, 2004 at 10:28 AM

• look beyond code
  My own bias, but coding is the easy part. Learn how the areas beyond code matter.
  How do you build something that's easy to maintain?
  How do you build something that's can be tested with automated tools?
  How do you build something that's easy for tech support to debug when things go wrong in the field?
  How do you know you're building the right thing? Do you think how each modules works to satisfy a need?
  Do you know how to tell if a requirement is complete? Do you know how to review a document?
  If you had a chance to interview a user, do you have any training on how to do it effectively?

  I'll contend, if you can do most of those things, becoming an Java expert is just a matter of learning what apis are out there and learning them as you need them. The typical API takes, what, a week or two to become competent with? Most even have reference books that help you understand the why/what/when to use various API features.

  Posted by: ckessel on January 27, 2004 at 12:40 PM

• please look beyond just code
  You have to look beyond just learnign java syntax and code..

  A subject I have been covering on my own weblog at:

  http://www.jroller.com/page/shareme/Weblog

  that you have too lok beyond in anay java area..

  Fro example in J2me normally a javadoc from Sun sauys extend Cnavas to use it..

  but..

  public className extends canvas

  is nopt the only way to extend cnavas!

  I see this newbie mistake all the time evne in games that companies want ported!

  Part of going beyond just code is to review the jvm articles at artima.com as they cover hwo the jvm works and how that imapcts your code..

  Not to say that looking at open source java code will not be beneficial but more likely the beginner wil l get lost unless they first go through the other stuff first..

  Posted by: shareme on January 29, 2004 at 04:03 AM

• CONFUSE??!!!
  Do you think inputing only EL(NON-JSTL) in jsp is possilbe?
  it's hard to imagin!

  Posted by: junly on March 14, 2004 at 10:45 AM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.