Weblog:		What's so bad about making it easier to learn Java?
Subject:		A recent Java convert and Head First reader
Date:		2004-01-21 21:59:36
From:		barryhawkins
I got started in software development through an odd path; I was fascinated with computing and there were some applications some folks wanted that other people didn't want to build. When I started looking at options, VB seemed the most welcoming and can-do of my options. I was in my mid twenties; college was a ways back and my degree was in Business. So, off to Barnes and Noble I went. When making production apps, it doesn't take too long to find the limits of VB. But, the apps went out, they worked, and I made more money. I had wished there was an alternative to Visual C++, but things looked bleak. I actually had one guy in a bookstore dissuade me from Java; he was a Java developer and said that if I used VB that Java would probably be beyond me. That one encounter typifies most of the interaction I have had with Java folks who didn't actually work with me. I turned my focus toward the DBA/database developer skills I had, and that's what I have been doing for some years now. But I still do development, and the more I have learned, the more Java appeals to me over Microsoft offerings. Would I prefer to have had a CS degree and oodles of OO experience before my entry into software development? You bet. But, guess what? That was not my lot in life. There's lots of people in my boat. I want to learn, and learn to do things well. It is hard, but it's the kind of hard I call fun. I don't think 7 million devs are willing to make the investment to become Java-proficient, but who knows, with offering like Head First Java, perhaps it could change. I could sum it up like this: this is the first book out of several (Learning Java, 1st and 2nd editions, Core Java, Vol. I and II) where I am being taught how to form sentences before I am asked to write an essay or read a classic novel. I wrote a little more about the experience on my weblog (http://www.yepthatsme.com/blogarch/000030.html). I know full well this book is a primer, but that is what I need. I need to be able to "think" and "speak" in Java; once I can, the great references that I mentioned earlier are sure to be more digestible. Many thanks to Kathy and Bert for the book.