Two Weeks of Java: No Decaf
Tags: java, codenewbie, beginners, 100daysofcode
Published: 2019-12-08 08:21:28

I've been doing the #100daysOfCode challenge on tweeter, currently 56 days in. About 2 weeks ago (15 days to be exact) I switched from struggling in JavaScript to learning Java. I've been going through Tim Buchalca's "Java Programming Master Class". It's a gigantic course (over 75 hours worth) and covers anything you could possibly think of. 

Since switching, I find I've had a much easier time retaining what I'm learning. Part of that is due to the ton of coding challenges, where I actually have to <em>write code</em>. Not code alongs. Each one has taken me anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the difficulty and my grasp of what's happening.

So What have I learned so far?

<b>Programming things I've learned in Java:</b>
writing methods
if/else statements
boolean
the usual math stuff
comparison
casting 
overloading methods
a bunch of other stuff.

Not only have I learned it, but I've written 14 exercise challenges. I started the projects, set up a main method, set up a main class and a class for whatever exercise I was doing. All the code was written from scratch, not copy pasted anywhere, or copied while watching a video. For me, this is a big deal, because I'm starting to cross over from someone who needs to watch the video to get anywhere, to someone who can write (at least rudimentary) code.


<b>Some other stuff I learned </b>

I decided early on that I would try to learn "job ready" skills, including uploading files to git. So every time I complete a challenge, that project gets uploaded to git via the terminal. I'd recommend anyone teaching themselves to code do this. There are a ton of tutorials on line that can walk you through how to do this. I've become very familiar with these three commands: 

git add <file name>
git commit -m "some comment within quotes"
git push origin master

Obviously there's a ton of other commands based on what you're doing. For What I'm doing right now these get me by now that my folder is set up with git.

<b>Breaking everything down into tiny, teeny pieces</b>

When I first started learning coding (and if you watch a lot of Udemy courses like I do) almost never do any of the instructors show breaking something down into tiny chunks. 

Instead of writing giant chunks of code and then testing, I just write a tiny bit. In java you can use println() and run your code to print something to the console, to see what's going on, for instance if you're checking true or false on something. Once I started writing a line or two and testing after, things started to click for me.

<b>focus on the learning process</b>

To be honest, I'm still working on this one. During my original attempts to learn how to program, I set what I see now were unrealistic goals for myself. I wanted to switch careers badly (still do!) and pushed myself instead of slowing down and really internalizing the material. I think a lot of people make this mistake, and instead of getting a job quickly they burn out and quit. Or it takes them that much longer because they really didn't write enough code to get semi-decent. This time around, I'm slowing down to (hopefully) speed up. 

edit: I'm not saying having goals are bad or anything. Just that realistic goals are better. 

<b>Learn how to think(and talk) problems through</b>

When I get stuck on something, its usually because I haven't broken it down enough. Now, I'm not a master of this. I'm two weeks in and just starting to grasp what I need to do. But when I do get stuck inevitably, First I try to make the issue smaller. Then I try to think it through. I usually wind up talking out loud, which really helps me clarify the issue. I'm not sure why this is, but it really helps. 


 Anyway, this is just some of the stuff I've learned over the last couple weeks. Thanks for reading.