Starting My Java Learning Journey 🚀

#java #learning #programming #beginners

Hey Devs 👋,

I’ve recently decided to start learning Java, and I wanted to document my journey here on Dev.to — both to help others who might be starting and to keep track of my own progress. If you're also just getting started or thinking about it, I hope this helps!

🧠 Why Java?

Java has been around for decades and continues to power everything from enterprise systems to Android apps. Some reasons I picked it:

🔒 Strong typing and structured syntax (great for learning fundamentals)
🧩 OOP (Object-Oriented Programming) is baked in
💼 It's widely used in enterprise applications
📱 It’s the foundation of Android development

📘 What I’ve Learned So Far

✅ The Basics

I started with the classic Hello World example and moved on to variables and data types:

public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String name = "Nam";
        int age = 20;
        boolean isStudent = true;

        System.out.println("Hello, " + name);
        System.out.println("Age: " + age);
        System.out.println("Is Student: " + isStudent);
    }
}

Functions (a.k.a. Methods)

I learned how to write my own methods:

public static void greet(String name) {
    System.out.println("Good morning, " + name + "!");
}

Then called them from the main method.

Loops

Loops are really useful — especially when working with lists or doing repetitive tasks.

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    System.out.println("Loop count: " + i);
}

🔧 Tools I'm Using

Java 11 (OpenJDK) — though I’m learning about Java 21+ and its new features
VS Code with the Java Extension Pack
Terminal (on Ubuntu via WSL)

🧭 What’s Next?

Understand object-oriented concepts (classes, objects, inheritance, etc.)
Explore file handling, exception handling, and collections
Maybe try building a small console app!

💬 Final Thoughts

Learning Java has been fun so far. The syntax is a bit strict compared to Python or JavaScript, but that’s also teaching me to be more thoughtful and organized.

If you’re new to Java or learning it too — let’s connect! I'd love to hear how others are approaching it.

Thanks for reading!
Happy coding 👨‍💻👩‍💻

DEV Community