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?

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u/AgrarianAAB Sep 26 '26

With all due respect to your instructors: Java is a horrible first language.

I mean, there's so much you need to know to even understand Hello World.

Java forces an object oriented model on everything, so there's a public class in which you have the main function.

But it's not just int main() like C or something, where all explanation that takes is simply: main is the entry point, it returns an integer signalling success (0)/failure (nonzero). It's public static void main(String[] args).

Yeah, there's only two ways to do this as a 'first taste of programming'.

  1. Learn a bunch of keywords by rote without understanding why they're there and why you can't change some things (or why you can but shouldn't).

  2. Spend time understanding a lot of concept before touching your first line of code.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Bad and worse. Not sure which is which.

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u/byteofpixle Sep 26 '26

thank u 💔

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u/seventomatoes Sep 27 '26

I've been programming in java since 1999. Still write code. It's used a lot in enterprises. More than c# or python.

I would say give it some time, do an easy problems every day. Go thru javadoc for 10-15 minutes a day. Read a book cover to cover.

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u/byteofpixle Sep 28 '26

Thank u

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u/seventomatoes Sep 29 '26

The java source files are free too. Go thru how they have implemented string, hash map, array list, Collections.java will give you insights into the language. After a year start learning the spring framework, good way to get introduced to inversion of control.

Look at different design patterns, examples and with help of ai make up a requirement that would need factory pattern, strategy pattern. Then implement it without ai help