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larswik

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 8, 2006
1,552
11
I got my mid term back today and I scored a 68 :( The bummer is that I only got 1:15 to do the test in and I could not finish everything. I got 2/3 finished but my 40 year old brain is not as fast as these 20 year old's. I barley missed any of the questions that I did answer thought. So I understand the material pretty well.

Anyway, I asked the teacher what class I should take next to continue developing towards iphone / ipad programming. He said I should go for JAVA as my next course without hesitation.

Isn't Java basically for internet stuff?

I only have about 3 or 4 classes left and then the final.

-Lars
 

jiminaus

macrumors 65816
Dec 16, 2010
1,449
1
Sydney
Java is pretty general purpose language. It's can be used for a lot of things.

I'm not sure why your teacher suggested Java without hesitation. Java can't be used directly to create iPhone / iPad apps. I guess it will though teach you object-oriented programming, which I understand you haven't been introduced to yet at all.
 

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
Java, while a great language to learn, is kinda useless in OS X. It's great for cross platform stuff, and I write Java programs to do routine things on my computer (although I'm going to learn python in hopes of making these tasks more efficient).

Apple hardly supports Java anymore, in fact I believe Sun (now Oracle) is dropping OS X supprt, or Apple is, I forget.

I would stick with C, C++, and Objective-C. However, I wouldn't start learning Objective-C until I understand more about application development since Objective-C is OS X only.


Sorry to hear about your grade, by the way. That kind of stuff really bytes.

PS: as far as Java's use on the internet. There are Java applets you can develop which can be used on the internet, think of it as flash, but more universal. I believe you are thinking of Javascript, which is the most common programming language used online. It has absolutely nothing to do with Java.
 

jiminaus

macrumors 65816
Dec 16, 2010
1,449
1
Sydney
Apple hardly supports Java anymore, in fact I believe Sun (now Oracle) is dropping OS X support, or Apple is, I forget.

Apple has handed over Java support for Mac OS X to Oracle but contributing it's source code to the OpenJDK project. This is so Mac OS X doesn't continuously lag behind the version of Java provided in the Oracle Java SDK. See the press release at http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/11/12openjdk.html.
 

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
Apple has handed over Java support for Mac OS X to Oracle but contributing it's source code to the OpenJDK project. This is so Mac OS X doesn't continuously lag behind the version of Java provided in the Oracle Java SDK. See the press release at http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/11/12openjdk.html.

Ah I see. Then that's actually a very good thing. Apple's lazy Java support will hopefully be rectified by more current support of OS X.
 

larswik

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 8, 2006
1,552
11
They also offer a C++ class that is object oriented but its course advisory it the Java class and C class.

-Lars
 

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
They also offer a C++ class that is object oriented but its course advisory it the Java class and C class.

-Lars

Ah I see. Then yes, you should take Java. I assumed that you were just taking classes that pertained to iOS application building. However, if you're still getting the basics down and developing a deeper understanding of computers then I recommend you listen to your advisor.
 
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