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If you do not have any background in C language then I would recommend you to go for Java language and this is not because I am a passionate Java developer but JAVA has proved it by being in the market for more than two decades which is such a big time for any programming language for not being obsolete. The main reason for it not being outdated is the phenomenal response JAVA has provided, whenever its development slowed down, with revolutionary changes in the form of Enum, Generics, and Autoboxing in Java 5, performance enhancement with Java 6, functional programming using the lambda expressions in Java 8, and Google's choice of language for Android apps.
In this article, I will share a list of reasons that why JAVA is the best of all and why to choose JAVA as your go-to programming language and how to learn it if you have already agreed that Java is a leading-edge programming language.
How to Learn Java
Now for those who want to learn the Java programming language, I would suggest some sources and methods be adept in it. The first thing that comes to one’s mind when trying to learn any course is through books. I would recommend Head First Java to new learners as I have personally got benefitted from this book when I have started learning Java but unluckily this book does not have all the latest knowledge and is out-of-date. Once you have learned all the basic concepts from this book then you can pick any other book with more complex concepts and features like lambda expression, method reference, Stream API, new Date, and Time API, default methods, and many others. Although Java ground rules have never changed since its birth I would strongly suggest starting with the latest JAVA version 8 or 9 and the Modern Java in Action is the best book that covers in-depth knowledge of Java 9.
The second source for you to learn Java is to get enrolled in an online course like
The Complete Java Master Class at Udemy for beginners.
This course is conversant and extensive covering both Java SE 8 and Java SE 9. The course edifice is set in an efficient way that novices would get maximum out of it by not only learning complex concepts of Java classes, multithreading, and concurrency but also the tools and basic concepts initially. Additionally, it also includes all Java 8 features in Bootcamp style with a lot of emphasis on hands-on work. Being such a thorough course it is quite affordable as compared to other online courses which may cost approximately $100 for a single-day Java class.
Apart from books and courses, you can get help from Java tutorials from Oracle. These tutorials are not only the latest but a complete source of learning for beginners. Besides, you can always use google to get to any specific term or concept’s resource material.
Reasons for learning Java
Here are other 10 reasons to get you motivated for choosing JAVA as your new programming language if you have not made up your mind yet.
1. Stress-free learning
Learning Java is an easy and stress-free process as Java has fluent English like syntax having minimum complex characters which makes it a quick learning programming language as compared to others which have relatively complex syntax. Once you have become familiar with installing JDK, setting up paths and Classpaths, it would be much easy for you to write code in Java and get productive in a short period of time.
2. Object-Oriented
Java is one of the few programming languages which are Object-oriented and development in object oriented is not only much easier but also keeps the system more flexible, integrated, and extensible. Once you have learned OOPs basics e-g Encapsulation, abstraction, polymorphism, and Inheritance these can be used in JAVA along with its library. Java also promotes open source projects through which object dependency can be well-managed e-g Spring.
3. Rich API
One reason that adds up to the popularity of the JAVA programming language is its rich APIs which come with JAVA installation. JAVA delivers API for I/O, networking, utilities, XML parsing, database connection, and a lot of others. Open-source libraries can also be used for any other API which might be left by JAVA.
4. Development tools
A major part of Java’s huge success and popularity is made by prevailing development tools like Netbeans and Eclipse. IDE or Integrated Development Environment made Java development much easier, quicker, and effortless. Coding in IDE brings much inclination especially to those who have coded in DOS Editor or Notepad and it is also easy to read code in IDE. They also facilitate programmers with great debugging capability which is vital for real-world development.
Other than IDE, the Java platform offers numerous other tools like Maven and ANT for building Java applications, Jenkins for Continuous Integration and delivery, decompilers, JConsole, Visual VM for monitoring Heap usage, etc.
5. Open Source libraries
Java has a great collection of open source libraries which made sure that JAVA can be used everywhere. Many organizations along with Apache and Google have come up with several great libraries that have not only made JAVA development easy and economical but the use of these libraries have played a huge part in Java’s popularity.
6. Community Support
No matter how good a language is it would have not survived without a supportive community and Java is being lucky in this context that it has magnificent community support to help novices, advanced, and even adept Java programmers. It has lots of active forums, StackOverflow, open-source organizations, and quite a lot of Java user groups to help with everything. Java encourages taking and giving back to community habits. Many Expert programmers provide free advice at Java forums which gives a lot of confidence to a newbie in Java.
7. Java is Free
Whenever a new programmer wants to learn a programming language and Organizations want to use technology cost has always been a major factor and Java is free from the start. This free factor of java has made it even more popular amongst individual developers. Since it’s so much popular and widely used amongst programmers, organizations are much inclined towards using JAVA for their development as they can find a lot of programmers in the market.
8. Java Docs
JAVA provides excellent documentation support. It’s a great piece of documentation that tells a lot of things about JAVA API. In my opinion, if JAVA has not provided JAVA docs it would not have been getting that fame it has acquired up till now. Java docs have made it easy for a newbie to learn and code even for advanced programmers as every programmer would have not been inclined to spend time and effort to look at what a method or class does. With the introduction of IDEs like Eclipse and IntelliJIDEA, you can get all the information in your IDE window itself instead of looking at Javadoc explicitly in the browser.
9. Platform Independent
JAVA’s prominence has grown to another level in the 1990s when its acronym “WORA” which means ‘write once run anywhere’ became famous which has made the JAVA platform-independent. The idea of Platform independence attracts a lot of programmers and organizations towards using JAVA their coding language. Hence JAVA tagline ‘write once run anywhere’ has contributed a lot to its growth. Most JAVA applications are developed on Windows and run on the Linux platform which makes it one of the best programming languages.
10. Java is widespread
Java programming language and programmers are everywhere whether it’s desktop, mobile, or card. This huge availability of JAVA professionals, as compared to other programming languages, has made it an obvious choice for organizations for their strategic development. Java also falls in the same league as C and UNIX, which is still surviving and even stronger enough to live another 20 years in the massive programming field.
That's all for the article 10 reasons for learning java programming in case you have any questions then please mention in comments.