Applications vs. Applets for beginning Java student

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David S. - 09 Apr 2004 03:59 GMT

I am a beginning Java student( < 6 months) and I wanted to ask
what should I be concentrating on after learning some of the
fundamentals of the language. Since almost everything today is
graphical
and windowed in nature, should I be working more on learning how to
write applets and Swing apps, or should I stick with the console type
apps that most beginning Java books/tutorials seem to utilize so much
?
Which do people feel is easier to work with(applets or Swing)and which
provides more flexibility. Also, should I be working to develop my own
ideas/programs from scratch or should I be looking more towards taking
existing code and enhancing/extending it(writing new
modules/extensions, etc.) ?

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Daniel Sjöblom - 09 Apr 2004 23:38 GMT

> I am a beginning Java student( < 6 months) and I wanted to ask
> what should I be concentrating on after learning some of the
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> apps that most beginning Java books/tutorials seem to utilize so much
> ?

IMO, you should learn how to program, console or no-console. The meat of
programming is designing data structures and algorithms, not knowing a
specific language or a specific toolset (like Swing). Good student
projects are sorting algorithms, linked lists, binary trees, stacks,
simple encoding/encryption type algorithms and such. Write some of the
java collections from scratch for a challenge.

> Which do people feel is easier to work with(applets or Swing)and which
> provides more flexibility.

Definitely not applets. I've yet to see a really good applet (that is, a
program that actually is good *because* it is an applet.)

> Also, should I be working to develop my own
> ideas/programs from scratch or should I be looking more towards taking
> existing code and enhancing/extending it(writing new
> modules/extensions, etc.) ?

Both. Writing something from scratch is a must for beginners. There is
no way you'll achieve any kind of fluency in a language if you only copy
and paste code. You must be able to 'speak' java naturally. But it is
also very important that you learn how to read other peoples code
because as a general rule, writing code is easier than reading it.
Extending a larger project will also teach you a thing or two about
managing large projects.

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Tom - 10 Apr 2004 19:25 GMT

If you find yourself choosing between an application and an applet,
I'd choose the former. Applets have many limitations that a beginner
will not be in a position to work around. Those limitations will not
apply to applications.

> I am a beginning Java student( < 6 months) and I wanted to ask
> what should I be concentrating on after learning some of the
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> existing code and enhancing/extending it(writing new
> modules/extensions, etc.) ?

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Applications vs. Applets for beginning Java student

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