Introduction to programming it only gets worse doesn't it.

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Beerman462

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So I'm on my first day of intro to programming. The very first assignment is to create the Hello World "program" and I can't even get javac to work. I googled my error- 'javac' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file- and set my PATH in environmental variables and it still doesn't work. This isn't my PC, but I installed Java SE. It's Windows 8, but that doesn't seem to matter. It's very frustrating to be stuck on what seems to be a very simple problem. Really wish this wasn't an online class.
 
This isn't a problem with programming it's a problem with windows path variables haha
Don't worry this is never an issue when you're a developer
 
There are a shit load of growing pains when you start to learn development. You'll feel like an idiot for probably the first few months, then you transition to feeling like you're just behind everyone else.

Tough it out. Every time you get stuck for a few hours, ask for help. Take notes, watch videos, Google -a lot-.

It gets better. Usually because you become a bit masochistic.
 
It gets easier. I remember it taking a bit of time understanding how to use the Linux command prompt/terminal for compiling code, using a repository, (etc.) never having used Linux before, on top of learning C (coming from Python) for the first time. A bit overwhelming at first, but now it's second nature to me.
 
I would love to say "don't worry, that's just the initial hurdles" but it looks like your class is gonna be working with Java primarily, and its not exactly the most beginner-friendly language what with its reliance on keywords you need to memorize and generally confusing object oriented and class-based style (which are terms you'll soon understand, hopefully) :)

Although the problem you seem to be having is not a language problem. Getting things set up always sucks, I think.
 
orientalNoodle said:
I don't know why they are still teaching Java in introductory class.
Click to expand...

Probably because its still one of the biggest programming languages in use, it has some decent (not great) IDEs that are free (big bonus for students), and its really easy to transfer the skills to c# later on.

Also, it makes sense to use something of a medium level of complexity, you know, to separate the wheat from the chaff early on.
 
It's hard but once you actually start making things you will get some satisfaction from building working solutions. What does kinda suck is spending nine tenths of your time looking up documentation and combining+deploying solutions that other people already made into functional but somewhat opaque frankenstein solutions you only kind of understand the inner workings of. Much more fun to make something from scratch, although also often very labour intensive.
 
Arthr2ShdsJcksn said:
Probably because its still one of the biggest programming languages in use, it has some decent (not great) IDEs that are free (big bonus for students), and its really easy to transfer the skills to c# later on.

Also, it makes sense to use something of a medium level of complexity, you know, to separate the wheat from the chaff early on.
Click to expand...

Visual Studio is free in some form now, it's what the school should be using, in my opinion at least.
 
Use choco/one-get to install cli stuff on windows, it takes care of adding stuff to your path.
Alternatively, ditch Windows and just use a GNU/Linux distribution (dualbooted, in a VM or Cygwin) which have a lot more mature package management making it a breeze to install pretty much anything developing related.
But really just fix your path, either by hand or by using choco/one-get to download java)
 
EDIT: Blah... didn't read the OP. Foolish me... I seen similar titles so many times I went into auto-pilot.
 
Oh you haven't got to the part when you have problems with your JAVA CLASSPATH yet.

Programming requires patience.

I would just manually put the path in directly to the command line like this:

SET PATH="$PATH":/usr/local/jdk1.6.0/bin
 
it gets better by far. Ive been programming for 20 years (16 with me installing my own stuff etc) and even i run into install problems i have to google sometimes. its normal . The actual programming part once installed gets significantly easier.
 
Shuggananas said:
you still have issues with windows path builds ? huh.
I never run into this stuff

java's the most common stuff out there but it's nice to start with something like C imo
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It's less this in specific and more of a "where I work, deployment and setup issues are a huge pain in the ass still". I wear too many hats and handle more than just pure development tasks, so I often find myself looking at problems that should be otherwise handled.
 
I took an HTML course last semester, and decided to try the next one in the series, which is focused on Javascript and Jquery. I'm kind of feeling like I'm going to be over my head soon, but I'm also kind of excited.

Let's grow together OP
 
Angelus Errare said:
Do you have the Java Development Kit installed? Java SE is vague, you could just have JRE and not JDK.
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Yes JDK sorry and if I drop the Hello.java text file onto the javac in the bin folder it works. I just can't get the command prompt to work.

Aeana said:
Did you restart your command prompt after changing the PATH?
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Yeah, took me a second look to figure that out, but it's still not working. I put the PATH in the User Variables the first time and then System Variables as well.

hipbabboom said:
EDIT: Blah... didn't read the OP. Foolish me... I seen similar titles so many times I went into auto-pilot.
Click to expand...

Np. This is my first course and it took me a few tries to apply the instructions given for the assignment to the text in my book, but I got that part now.


Sushi Nao said:
I took an HTML course last semester, and decided to try the next one in the series, which is focused on Javascript and Jquery. I'm kind of feeling like I'm going to be over my head soon, but I'm also kind of excited.

Let's grow together OP
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm a little excited. I got up from the computer frustrated like 3 times saying I'm taking a break and will come back later. 1 min later I would get an idea of what I might have done wrong and come right back.
 
Shuggananas said:
you still have issues with windows path builds ? huh.
I never run into this stuff

java's the most common stuff out there but it's nice to start with something like C imo
Click to expand...

Sure, not specifically with Java, but any new project setup usually encounters a road bump in something not set up correctly since the documentation for setting up the project tend to be rough, not fully tested, and a work in progress. It could be an incorrect SDK, wrong path setup, conflicting path from an old project. Tons of stuff can happen that's painful to get going.
 
Marty Chinn said:
Sure, not specifically with Java, but any new project setup usually encounters a road bump in something not set up correctly since the documentation for setting up the project tend to be rough, not fully tested, and a work in progress. It could be an incorrect SDK, wrong path setup, conflicting path from an old project. Tons of stuff can happen that's painful to get going.
Click to expand...


yeah there's always these kinds of issues but it's the worst of it imo, once everything is setup it gets better
or not, if you're working on a 20 year old garbage application, but that's another story hah

Brakke said:
l m f a o
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i was talking specifically about windows path garbage
 
Genuinely, it only gets better.

But I understand your pain regarding the initial setup. My first year course, Intro to Programming, used Java. I also had trouble setting up the compiler/ide at home (this was on Win XP). Had to use the school lab to get the assignments done.

There are online IDEs you can use to jump in and focus purely on coding simple assignments if you're just starting out.

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/codingground.htm

For Java: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/compile_java_online.php

But this isn't suitable replacement. You'll obviously need to get your workstation up and running.
 
Marty Chinn said:
Sure, not specifically with Java, but any new project setup usually encounters a road bump in something not set up correctly since the documentation for setting up the project tend to be rough, not fully tested, and a work in progress. It could be an incorrect SDK, wrong path setup, conflicting path from an old project. Tons of stuff can happen that's painful to get going.
Click to expand...

This seems to be pretty simple which is the frustrating part. I installed the Java SE jdk-8u65-windows-x64 and set the PATH. I might be missing a step though. It's a pretty new computer used by my in laws for generic usage. they have an ask.com homepage and everything...
 
Shuggananas said:
i was talking specifically about windows path garbage
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't know anything about how Windows work but once you get your environment set up, this sort of thing disappears. Generally, this sort of thing is a much worse headache than actual programming 90 % of the time in my experience.
 
Shuggananas said:
This isn't a problem with programming it's a problem with windows path variables haha
Don't worry this is never an issue when you're a developer
Click to expand...

It's roughly the first two days of setting up an environment.
Always.
It gets easier with experience, unless your team uses the most retarded possible stack, which is, only, like, always.
 
Marty Chinn said:
Sarcasm right?
Click to expand...
well his response is a bit meh, but let's just say that he's being oversiplicistic..
op, i guess it's something about classpath..
if you want a quick way simply go into
my computer --> properties --> advanced system settings --> environment variables
then:
Create variable called
JAVA_HOME
set the value to: "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_17" (change the path to whatever you path to the jdk is)
Then find another variable called "Path" and edit it adding to the end the following line
";%JAVA_HOME%\bin."
this should do

plus gaf is with you on this.. please ensure that you've downloaded java se SDK (or the jdk since i dunno if you need glassfish and all the bloat) :]

I'm no windows wiz, but i guess you simply have not configured the classpath correctly.. either you can set it on the fly (and re-execute it every time) OR, you can add the environment variables and ignore it in the future :X
 
Aureon said:
It's roughly the first two days of setting up an environment.
Always.
It gets easier with experience, unless your team uses the most retarded possible stack, which is, only, like, always.
Click to expand...
the most itching part of the development experience is ALWAYS when you're new (new as a developer or new on that specific language) and you have to setup the environment... usually smh..
 
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