Well, I finally got around to finishing a Udemy course I bought something like 6 years ago:
Java Tutorial for Complete Beginners by John Purcell
When I first got this course I thought it was really fantastic, and I chewed through a ton of it! It helped me build my first program and the way he explained things seemed (at the time) really good!
I got through 80% of the content on that first push and then I had enough understanding to finish my program, gain a local mentor and a remote mentor, and so I put the lessons down... And in the years since I first started it and recommended it to various folks... I don't think I'd recommend it again.
There ARE some very core principles he does explain well, but the course hasn't been updated in ages and were I to recommend a course these days it would be the Tim Buchalka Masterclass, which covers a lot of the same content but at much greater depth, and with constant updates.
Now, part of that may just be the age of the original videos... Purcell certainly seems to have created his series earlier in Java's life cycle, whereas Buchalka started from a more recent build, but the contrast is still unmistakable.
For a completely free course, Purcell's does the trick and it'll get you enough knowledge to understand the language... But for a paid course, Buchalka's is heads and tails better.
Anyhow, I'm drifting from my point. I have a ton of these started but unfinished courses that I've collected - most of them I watch long enough to get basic syntax understanding and then I use them as points of reference as I need the refresher, or if I'm just not getting a topic that I've been exposed to. I'm trying to change that though and actually make a concerted effort to watch, practice, and complete the courses I've picked up.
In doing so, I've found that my un-taught experience of just USING the language and solving problems myself has largely made entire sections into reviews of stuff I already know... Which is SUPER NEAT. I didn't really realize how much I've picked up through using them that translates between languages. I've been using C#, VB.net, JS, and SQL for the last couple of years in my day job and a bit of python (maintaining existing stuff mostly) as a hobby... And I'm finding that, for me, I learn way more by just getting a problem and throwing myself at it than I do through coursework.
So, I'm going to keep doing that while also completing the courses because then at least I can point at the certificate I get for completing them to (at least dubiously) show that I've got that understanding.
The Selenium WebDriver course at 8% in the above screenshot too is another that I'm sure will be easy to breeze through - I have used a LOT of Selenium when I was focused on QA (heck, I even set up a semi-auto betting bot for Hive-Roller - with Klye's blessing of course. It lost me a bunch of shit-tokens and was a blast to build 🤣). Java Swing is going to be a chore because it's honestly mostly outdated now, but... I just really want these things complete!
I certainly wouldn't call myself a beginner anymore - and that may be colouring my opinion of some of the courses I have... but time will tell. I know there are a few that I got for free and some that I grabbed in anticipation of stuff I thought I'd struggle to learn... but that I have actually found incredibly easy to pick up... so we'll see if I can glean any neat tips or tricks from those when I watch them.
For now, that's it for today. I meant to post this yesterday but life with kids gets chaotic surprisingly fast haha.
