From: Clarence Blumstein on
Do you suggest me using IDE when I'm learning JAVA? because I'm about
to using Eclipse when I'm learning JAVA? Did you using IDE while/when
are a beginner?
From: Eric Sosman on
On 4/27/2010 9:27 AM, Clarence Blumstein wrote:
> Do you suggest me using IDE when I'm learning JAVA? because I'm about
> to using Eclipse when I'm learning JAVA? Did you using IDE while/when
> are a beginner?

Can't speak for others, but I wrote my early Java with an
ordinary code editor, one I was already familiar with. That way,
I could concentrate on learning Java rather than on learning how
to operate the IDE. YMMV.

--
Eric Sosman
esosman(a)ieee-dot-org.invalid
From: Lew on
Clarence Blumstein wrote:
> Do you suggest me using IDE when I'm learning JAVA? because I'm about
> to using Eclipse when I'm learning JAVA? Did you using IDE while/when
> are a beginner?

Opinions vary. An IDE can be both a blessing and a curse to the
student. It's a blessing because it lets you get productive earlier.
It's a curse because it hides some information and can leave you
wondering how and why things work. Or don't.

I suggest using an IDE sometimes and using only the command line
(including Ant) other times. Each will then illuminate the other and
you will grow up to be ambidextrous with respect to using an IDE or
not.

Frequently when I develop a project I maintain the Ant build.xml
manually and alternate between IDE builds and command-line builds to
ensure that both work equally well.

--
Lew
From: cr88192 on

"Clarence Blumstein" <blumstein.clarence(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d0c1f722-4bec-4728-81a2-22d91d57d4d8(a)p35g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Do you suggest me using IDE when I'm learning JAVA? because I'm about
> to using Eclipse when I'm learning JAVA? Did you using IDE while/when
> are a beginner?

if you are new to programming in general, an IDE can help, as they provide a
lot of little things which can be helpful.

but, for Java in particular, the IDE is not particularly important, and one
can easily write code in plain text editors if they want. it depends a lot
on personal preferences and experience.


as for myself, well, I didn't start out with Java (it didn't really exist
yet).
I used IDEs some (TurboC / BorlandC), but in those days it didn't help much
(glorified text editor...), and eventually I just ended up managing files
manually via the DOS-prompt (and using "MS Edit").

anymore, I typically just do coding (in general) via the mix of Notepad,
Explorer, and a command prompt (and typically GNU Make for building). not
that there is anything noble about this, only that this approach just better
suits my uses and personal experience (there are pros and cons to IDEs).

my projects are also largish and mixed language (and largely C), and I use
some amount of "custom tooling", which may also be a factor, ...

(there are no uniformly "better" options in all this, only endless numbers
of costs and benefits).


but, for learning, an IDE is likely to be somewhat helpful, as it provides a
lot of things which could be otherwise awkward to do by hand.


or such...


From: markspace on
Clarence Blumstein wrote:
> Do you suggest me using IDE when I'm learning JAVA? because I'm about
> to using Eclipse when I'm learning JAVA? Did you using IDE while/when
> are a beginner?


Yes, I do. Learning to use an IDE is part of learning how to program.
There are lots of little time saving enhancements with an IDE that you
should learn, and those enhancements will help you learn faster as well
as be more productive later in your profession. It's win-win.

A few years ago I would have said "no, just use a text editor" like
several others here, but these days an IDE is so valuable that it should
be part of your basic learning. (A few years ago, you would have used
shell scripting too as part of your basic learning, because the shell
tools were so important to being productive as a programmer. My first
class at university for C was titled "C and the Unix Shell.")

Eventually, you should learn the command line tools, but learning the
command line tools (and Ant) is different than entering code, and the
latter is what you will be mostly doing as you learn. An IDE is the
best tool to help you enter code.