What about Java?

Hi Nicole,

I totally agree with you. We have no set-in-stone plans to teach Java, but it's on our internal roadmap for mid-2013!

what about Python Nick?

Hi Liban,

Same thing. We're hoping to start teaching Python in 2013, but there's no public plans just yet. Thanks for being patient with us! :)

Thank you for responding, Nick. I would love to stay with Treehouse as I learn app development (and design).

As much use that Java gets I was surprised to find it not being taught through Codeacademy or wc3. Reading through endless pages of Oracle tutorials is not as fun as learning with Team Treehouse, albeit necessary.

I'm happy to hear Java is on the board. Looking forward to it!

In lieu of a full fledged course at the moment, I started a series of blog posts about the basics of Java development. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is almost complete. It's more as a reference for Android development, but as pure Java it's hopefully a good place to start from scratch.

Thanks that was helpful but what about maybe a video course on Java since is the number one programming language lol

Hey, @Liban,

It's simply a resource problem for us. It's on our "nice to have" list, but it's not as high priority as the other stuff we're currently working on.

It’s still good to reinforce the demand with comments and requests like this, though! I was totally self-taught with Java a while back so I can't really point to any good resources in the mean time, but there are some good books out there if that can help. I'm not much of a book learner for programming, but I've heard really good things about the "Head First" series, if you're interested.

Hey, @Ben, Thanks for your reply. I would like some advice or hints on a few things. I'm currently in the progress of learning Java. I started learning Python and Javascript for a year now and understand how programming languages work. I figured since I will be taking a Java course in college for spring and summer quarter coming up I might as well Focus more on learning Java and not Python and Javascript.

My questions are is it worth learning Java? I mean it seems like it is the most widely used programming language and is # 1 on http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html but you mentioned you were self-taught so what was that like? was it hard? how long did it take you to learn the languange. I want to get into software and web development so I can use some advice.

I think most programming languages are worth learning. Learning Java will be useful for you for a few reasons:

1. It's still super popular, so there are lots of jobs and interesting projects that require it.
2. It's very similar to C# in a lot of ways, so your learning curve for C#/.NET will be very easy if you decide to do anything with that.
3. It's a strong Object Oriented language, so the concepts and patterns will apply to Python, Ruby, etc.
4. Android!

@Randy Hoyt likes to say, learning your first programming language is hard because it's all new. Learning your second is hard because it's different and you remember how hard it was the first time. After that it's easy because you realize they all have common elements and it just takes some time and practice to pick up the differences in syntax and best-practices.

I found Java easy to pick up because I already knew C and C++, so it was a natural evolution for me. I also had a helpful programmer who showed me some things, and I never worked on any really complex Java systems.

It's hard for me to say if it's good or best for web development. Like Ruby, Java itself isn't really geared for web pages, but there are some great frameworks for server-side Java that act just like Ruby on Rails, .NET MVC, or other frameworks like that.

If it all seems overwhelming--don't worry! It all sorts itself out as you work on stuff. Since you're taking a course then as you mention it might be good to start using it now. If you get really experienced with it you'll either find things you like or decide something else might be for you. And at that point it will be a lot easier for you to switch to something else. So keep at it and you'll be in great shape!