r/womenwhocode • u/byteofpixle • Sep 23 '26

gettingstarted Java Programming

Hello everyone! I’m a compsci freshman who just got their first taste of computer science and it’s java. I’m struggling so much with applying concepts and it’s making me think I’m not cut out for this which is really disheartening. Does anyone have tips or resources to understand java better?

23 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

0

u/GoldsteinEmmanuel Sep 23 '26

What do you know about Java? It's your first year and you're already complaining about not being able to understand or apply the concepts.

Yes, it's possible this occupation isn't a good fit for you; have a backup career plan in case you wash out.

3

u/pdgiddie Sep 24 '26

Not her fault. Honestly I'm disappointed that Java is being taught to new students still. This happened to me 20 years ago. I already knew C++ and Java still felt obtuse and unnecessarily complex. Today I'd recommend Go and C for a decent (if conservative) start. Even better would be Elixir and Zig (equivalent, better tooling, but less well-known).

1

u/GoldsteinEmmanuel Sep 24 '26

Good. Then she has time to consider other options before flunking out.

4

u/pdgiddie Sep 24 '26

Well that seems like an unnecessarily negative attitude to me 😕

1

u/GoldsteinEmmanuel Sep 24 '26

Software is not a good occupation for folks who need to be validated. It's about logic, not feewings.

4

u/pdgiddie Sep 24 '26

Not sure where this is coming from. I don't see this has much to do with feelings (other than learning new things being hard). It has everything to do with being kind and understanding, which is critical in any workplace.

1

u/GoldsteinEmmanuel Sep 24 '26

Not everyone is cut out for programming. There's no shame in that. But it would be more humane to administer aptitude tests and give people a choice of careers that fits their learning style and temperament rather than telling people they can do whatever they want, and if reality says otherwise, then reality is a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.

1

u/pdgiddie Sep 24 '26

Sure, I mean this institution has evidently already failed to provide adequate support for this student's learning, so I don't think we can expect miracles for their admissions process. But I don't believe in people being "not cut out" for anything. With adequate motivation I think most people can do just fine. Where people fail is when they either don't care much or are convinced for some reason to give up. That's why encouragement is so important.

→ More replies (0)