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Hey folks,

I am a long time user of MS tools. Started with VB 5 many years ago and
transitioned to C# and DotNet as soon as MS released IT. Now I need to
learn java and have no idea where to start. I should be more clear. I have
familiarized myself with java syntax , which was not a huge jump from C#,
and have played with standard java framework packages (I/O etc).

My problem lies more with the dizzying array of IDEs, frameworks (STRUTS?),
and web servers that are out there. Not to mention servlets, java beans etc
etc.

Where would be a good place to start without losing my mind? I want to be
able to develop robust java web apps...

Mitch wrote:
> My problem lies more with the dizzying array of IDEs, frameworks (STRUTS?),
> and web servers that are out there. Not to mention servlets, java beans etc
> etc.
>
> Where would be a good place to start without losing my mind? I want to be
> able to develop robust java web apps...

As far as IDEs go, it's not necessary to "learn" a bunch of IDEs. Find
one you are okay with, and use it. Eclipse is fairly popular these days
if you want free. IntelliJ IDEA seems to be the commercial option of
choice. There are, as always, fairly good followings of the big-vendor
options as well (for instance, Borland's JBuilder, and Sun's
WhateverWeAreCallingItToday).

Java web applications require servlets, so become familiar with those.
JSP is then a good default choice, and is by far the most commonly used
presentation layer on top of servlets (despite very vocal criticisms by
the dissenting party). Struts, if you are interested in it, pretty much
assumes that you're using JSP as your presentation layer. Within the
next two years there is going to be a reckoning between Struts and JSF
for market domination on Java web app frameworks; I can't predict which
will be the way to go, but Struts certainly has the market penetration
for now.

Once you've got that far, hopefully you'll have an idea where you want
to go next.

--
www.designacourse.com
The Easiest Way to Train Anyone... Anywhere.

Chris Smith - Lead Software Developer/Technical Trainer
MindIQ Corporation

"Mitch" <> wrote:

>Hey folks,
>
>I am a long time user of MS tools. Started with VB 5 many years ago and
>transitioned to C# and DotNet as soon as MS released IT. Now I need to
>learn java and have no idea where to start. I should be more clear. I have
>familiarized myself with java syntax , which was not a huge jump from C#,
>and have played with standard java framework packages (I/O etc).
>
>My problem lies more with the dizzying array of IDEs, frameworks (STRUTS?),
>and web servers that are out there. Not to mention servlets, java beans etc
>etc.
>
>Where would be a good place to start without losing my mind? I want to be
>able to develop robust java web apps...
>
If you want to reproduce the comfort of a single vendor then IBM is
the best choice. Click on "Sign-up for the new PowerPack" at
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork...ampledisc.html)
and receive a trial subscription to all the software you may need. If
price is a consideration, then the free NetBeans (www.netbeans.org)
IDE is probably the way to go. It comes with, or has plug-ins for,
most of the other programs you list.

I can't guarantee that you won't lose your mind though. Having come to
Java directly from VB6 I am not confidant that I am still sane.

I feel your pain as well... I'm much more fluent in C# right now than Java.
(Although I was doing J2ME awhile back.)

I've been using IBM WebSphere (paid for by work) as my IDE - pretty nice.
It's built on Eclipse.

I'm using Struts, which as you may know is a framework that uses servlets
and jsp's.

What I'm finding most confusing is all the tag libraies that are used on
jsp.

I like how clean .NET is right now (although give it 5-10 years to reach
Java's maturity, and I bet it will have just as many layers of things).

Well, enough rambling. Here are some links on things that I feel are
important.

First, you have to know what a servlet is cause everything else seems to be
built on top of that:
http://java.sun.com/products/servlet/
http://java.sun.com/products/servlet...ial/index.html

Next is Java Server Pages, which are "asp-like" pages that compile
down to servlets (from my best understanding)
These are pretty simple to understand in and of themselves (at least they
were for me).
Take a quick look at the 2nd link here comparing asp to jsp.
http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/
http://www.daysite.net/programming/jsp.htm

Then you get to all the tag libraies written for jsp.
There's JSTL: (JSP Standard Tag Library)
http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/jst...ocs/index.html
And a few here:
http://jakarta.apache.org/taglibs/do...doc/intro.html

(but what I find missing are ones to do things like our asp.net repeater,
datalist, and datagrid, etc)

Finally, you put struts on top / in the middle of all of that.
http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/
See especially some of the FAQs and guides here:
http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/faqs/index.html


Well, that's about all I know... Good luck.
Feel free to e-mail me if you find a book something like: "Java for .NET
Programmers"

-mike




"Mitch" <> wrote in message
news:4076ec32$...
> Hey folks,
>
> I am a long time user of MS tools. Started with VB 5 many years ago and
> transitioned to C# and DotNet as soon as MS released IT. Now I need to
> learn java and have no idea where to start. I should be more clear. I
> have
> familiarized myself with java syntax , which was not a huge jump from C#,
> and have played with standard java framework packages (I/O etc).
>
> My problem lies more with the dizzying array of IDEs, frameworks
> (STRUTS?),
> and web servers that are out there. Not to mention servlets, java beans
> etc
> etc.
>
> Where would be a good place to start without losing my mind? I want to be
> able to develop robust java web apps...
>
>

"Mitch" <> wrote in message news:<4076ec32$>...
> Hey folks,
>
> I am a long time user of MS tools. Started with VB 5 many years ago and
> transitioned to C# and DotNet as soon as MS released IT. Now I need to
> learn java and have no idea where to start. I should be more clear. I have
> familiarized myself with java syntax , which was not a huge jump from C#,
> and have played with standard java framework packages (I/O etc).
>
> My problem lies more with the dizzying array of IDEs, frameworks (STRUTS?),
> and web servers that are out there. Not to mention servlets, java beans etc
> etc.
>
> Where would be a good place to start without losing my mind? I want to be
> able to develop robust java web apps...

If you're familiar with C#, you probably already have a feel for how
Java works. There's a very helpful book from Microsoft Press called
'C# for Java Developers'.

If you're trying to integrate .NET and Java, have a look at SOAP.
It's a platform neutral spec. Check out http://www.apache.org - on
the left nav bar there's a link for XML.

Good luck.

Dave Monroe