Getting Better at Programming (Java)

While on DIC, I've seen a bunch of threads all asking basically the same thing- how can I get better at programming? The simple truth is that programming takes practice writing and debugging code. It is not something that comes overnight. So for those of you relatively new to (Java) programming, I've outlined a list of topics in a sequence from total novice to advanced programming, with focuses on various aspects of programming from data structures to Graphics to Networking.

I have also included a list of tutorials for most of the topics below. If you have a resource on Dream.in.Code that you feel would add to a given category, shoot me a PM!

Stage 1: You might fall into this category if you've never written a line of code before. Some things I would cover include:

• Hello, World (print() vs. println(), \n escape sequence)
  • Jhin's Hello World Tutorial
• Primitive data types (byte, short, int, long, float, double, char, boolean)
• Basic use of the String class and Primitive Wrappers for parse methods (ie., Integer.parseInt(String)), JOptionPane vs. Scanner
  • NeoTifa's Basic Java for N00blets Part 2- Important Classes (String, Scanner)
    
  • William_Wilson's String Tutorial
• If, Else-if, else statements; switch blocks, basic while, do-while, for loops, and relational operators:
  • NeoTifa's Basic Java for N00blets
    
  • Locke's Tutorial on Looping
• Arrays and foreach loop
  • TriggaMike's Arrays Tutorial

Stage 2: If you have completed all the Stage 1 topics with a decent proficiency or are in the AP Computer Science or comparable class, then you should work on these topics. Note that all of these topics are critical to sucessful programming in Java, so you should have a strong handle on them before going onto stage 3:

• ArrayLists
  • Locke's ArrayList vs. Static Arrays Tutorial
• Methods
  • smohd's Passing Objects to a Method
    
  • xor-logic's Passing Information Between Methods
    
  • NeoTifa's Basic Java for Beginners Part 3
  
  
• Class design (constructors, instance variables and non-static methods, use of static)
  • Locke's Intro to Designing Classes
    
  • Locke's Intro to Designing Classes Part II
    
  • macosxnerd101's Moving Away From Parallel Arrays
    
  • Elcric's Class Design Tutorial
    
  • Elcric's Static Tutorial
    
  • Dogstopper's toString() Tutorial
    
  • pdkharkar's Tutorial on Constructors
    
  • pdkharkar's Tutorial on the this keyword
    
  • giggly kisses' Tutorial on Creating Your Own Objects
  
  
• Abstraction, Polymorphism (method overloading and overriding), Inheritance, and Interface design and usage
  • Renagado's Tutorial on Polymorphism and Generics
    
  • japanir's Abstract Classes vs. Interfaces Tutorial
    
  • Programmist's Programming to an Interface, Not an Implementation
• Object-Oriented Design Patterns
  • japanir's Tutorial on the Singleton Pattern
    
  • master.bennett: Decorator Pattern
• Working comfortably on a large project where most of the code is not yours.

Stage 3: If you have completed AP CS or Comparable Course and are proficient with all the above tools, then you may want to start on Stage 3 topics:

• Data Structures and Collections (Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues, TreeMaps, HashMaps, TreeSets, HashSets, Graphs)
  • Java Data Structures Resource Thread
• Advanced Generics (use of the wildcard operator and further parameterization; making your classes generic)
  • tivrfoa's Intro to Generics Tutorial
    
  • macosxnerd101's Evolution of Generic Programming Blog Entry
• Graphical User Interfaces (Swing and AWT), as well as Graphics and Graphics2D classes for animations
• Event-Driven Programming (possibly game programming)
  • macosxnerd101's Event-Driven Programming Tutorial
    
  • Java Game Programming Thread
• File I/O
  • dragon-slayer's File I/O Tutorial
• Exception Handling
  • William_Wilson's Exception Basics- Try, Catch, Finally Tutorial
    
  • William_Wilson's Exception Intermediates- Throwing and Chaining Tutorial
    
  • William_Wilson's Exceptions Advanced- Customizing Tutorial
• Database
  • jeremejazz's Java to MySQL Connection (Using the JDBC-ODBC Bridge) Tutorial
    
  • eXceed69's Java Connecting with an ODBC Tutorial
    
  • alpha02's Using MySQL with Java Tutorial
    
  • pbl's Inserting Java Objects Into an HSQLdb Database
  
  
• Proficiency at maintaining code, including refactoring
• Becoming comfortable with a domain-specific third party API. (i.e. something niche, not standard, and possibly poorly designed and a nightmare to work with)
• Finding performance bottlenecks and designing solutions.

Stage 4: This is the advanced stuff, for which you should have a strong understanding of the previous 3 stages:

• Networking, Client/Server design
  • WolfCoder's Client-Server Tutorial
• Threading
  • William_Wilson's Threads Tutorial
• Interacting with Websites and Webpages (ie., creating an RSS Feed Reader would fall into this category, while getting the webpage source might be more stage 3 topic)
  • Martyr2's Blog Entry on Logging Into a Website With Java
• Advanced Applications of Reflection
• Drag and Drop with GUIs
  • macosxnerd101's Drag and Drop Tutorial Part 1- Basics of Dragging
    
  • macosxnerd101's Drag and Drop Tutorial Part 2- Dropping

I'd be happy to update this list with additional topics as good suggestions are posted.

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