Java recommendation?

[boscopup]

My original plan was to do the Edhesive AP Computer Science A course, but they jacked up the price so much. I've e-mailed to ask if they'd give me the old price, but just in case they say no, I'm looking at other options. Also, my husband said that as of Java 8, there are a lot of cool new features that would be good to learn when first learning the language. Those features are NOT listed in the AP CS A syllabus, so I think most courses don't touch them. I've been out of the field long enough that I am not familiar with the new features myself (but if I have a text that teaches them, I can learn from that pretty easily).

So if you didn't use the Edhesive course, what did you do for an intro to java? This kid has not done any real programming course before. He's only played around with Kodu and the like.

[Kendall]

http://codeforteens.com/

You could look at this. I have only worked through chapter 4 and I don't know java or programming, so I can't compare it. I like is so far. The author is great at responding to emails, so you could ask him questions. 

 

[dereksurfs]

Our son learned Java at home first going through some free online tutorials. Then he took a Python and Java course at our local CC and did really well.He would like to pursue a major in CS after enjoying these initial courses along with his Mindstorm robotics programming. I looked at Edhesive a while back even  when it was free and was not terribly impressed by it given so many other great options for learning programming. IMO, the teacher's ability to convey programmatic methodologies and logic in a way that makes sense to young learners is much more important than the latest books, curriculum, etc... At this stage the primary goal is to light the spark of interest in programming vs. simply taking another AP course. I'm also a software engineer and Java programmer by profession. Of course its nice to have another AP on the books or the latest and greatest Java 9 soon to be 10 whiz bang features. But things are continually evolving while many of the fundamental building blocks remain the same. And the fundamentals are really what they are learning at this stage - how to think in computer logic. Later on once in the workforce, if that ever happens, they will dive into all the nuances of the latest API calls which will have changed dramatically by that time anyway.

So my recommendation is to find a Java teacher he can relate with and helps to fan that flame of interest in actually learning to program. Then the rest will follow more naturally. That is, unless this is simply a get 'er subject and then move on.