Talk:Learning Java

Merge with Introduction to Programming in Java
See Talk:Introduction to Programming in Java page for my reasoning. MetaBohemian 20:35, 7 February 2007 (UTC) EDIT: The actual talk page is Talk:Introduction to Programming in Java/Integer Variables --MetaBohemian 19:47, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

You may have a rationale developed (I have not looked at it), but this page actually has information, where as yours only has your ideas, making this page infinitely more viable.

Top-down didactic education
Otherwise known as Didactic Framing, it consists of the purely regimented injection of facts accompanied by drills followed usually with a testing regime. I believe that there is no place for this in this century as I believe that it has been a way to influence populations with misinformation.

The alternative is learning by doing, and since a novice has no knowledge he just jumps in and hopes for the best. In this case I mean getting some good code and contributing to it so as to add value. After a certain short while the novice does actually begin to make useful contributions, and hence forth is known as "expert."

This learning method actually is not an alternative; it does not even have a name. It is the basic way of learning that we have inherited from our ancestors deeper in the evolutionary tree.

If the Wikiveristy is is a learning "institution" then it should not be a scratch-pad for the Wikipedia, which forbids what it loosely calls original research, or new information. The Wikiversity should be a manifestation of the learning methods of this new age, and not the apparently suicidal methods of the one that precedes it.

Massive clean-up and additions necessary
This tutorial is in severe need of an overhaul. There is a section on decision structures, however there is no mention of looping. The lessons are also out of order. Individuals who are learning the language need to understand the basics before they can move on to more complicated subjects. All secondary lessons (Classes II, Error-Handling II) should also be grouped together in sequence. A number of other changes need to occur here, but I don't have the time to list everything. I plan to make changes in the near future to clean this area up.

Java slower than C++?
I stumbled upon an interesting article recently. http://www.idiom.com/~zilla/Computer/javaCbenchmark.html This makes the line "# Often runs too slowly on older computers to be as easily usable as a program written in a language like C or C++" arguable. Eruonen 17:01, 5 August 2009 (UTC)