old dogs learning new tricks

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I mentioned a few times before that I used to program in COBOL and a few other langs, before OO became the New Way...

 

We've talked about java or python...

I bought a few books on Java, including one which really goes into OO thinking (Eckels - Thinking in Java, 3rd ed.) My brain is having trouble thinking in a non-procedural way, so I don't know if anything will come of my desire to learn OO.

 

Lately I've been reading about python, and many authors (including Bruce Eckels) think it is preferable to java. 1. they say its easier to learn 2. they say you can work with it in an OO way, or in a non-OO way if OOP is not needed for what you are doing 3. they say that python progs are smaller and less bloated than the same program in java

 

However, one of my best buddies, a senior manager at a huge corporation, who is in charge of many programming projects, tells me that java would be preferable to know at least in the job market.

 

I also want to learn mySQL. I know a little about oracle/sql from a class I took last year.

 

Some python books I am considering:

 

Python: Visual Quickstart Guide

Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner

 

most reviewers on amazon.com say both books are excellent.

At least I can get a feel if I want to continue with python, and maybe buy one of the more complete books if I want.

 

some mysql books I am considering:

 

MySQL: Your visual blueprint for creating open source databases (Moncur)

MySQL Tutorial (Welling)

 

I know there's alot of info on both subjects on the web, but I like to have one or two good books also.

 

I read an interesting fact somewhere recently: approx only 3 out of 10 procedural programmers successfully moved into OOP

 

are there any older people here, who formerly programmed in the non-OO languages, and are now programming in OO ?

[Cannonfodder]

That would be me.. my first real computer language was Pascal and I now write OOPS applications in Foxpro and some other lanuguages (visual basic). Learning how to program OOPS is defininately a must. I don't just say this to parrot others but have learn from experience. I remember going through the shift and while it was difficult, it clicked into place one day. One big thing to remember is that objects are event driven. Each event is a method (like a procedure) in an object. The object has properties like variables. The methods have variables inside of them as well (local variables). The objects are executed using an event framework. E.g. I click on a button and the button (an object) CLICK() event (a method called click) takes off. The CLICK() event has code that calls the FORM.RELEASE() event. This event closes and releases the button's window. The button itself exists separately from everything else as does the form. But you can join them or have underlying sub-classes (objects) that they share. E.g. Dog and Man have noses (underlying object nose). It actually makes life easier because you can narrow your focus down to designing a class to do something and only worry about that class. Once it does what you want it to do, then yoiu can use that class anywhere. It's actually fun :) I suspect you have not had a real life project to work with using classes and as a result find it hard to learn. Take a class or write some software.. Python is definitely a good language to learn..

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Like Rodney Dangerfield - I've gone Back To School. I'm taking a few courses now, on my way to an IT degree, which is more light-weight than an CS degree. IT degrees have a couple basic programming courses but that's usually it. I'm wondering now if I should have entered the CS program. I took a required VB course last year, which to me was very easy. Actually, I think that course was the only required course with any programming. Of course, I can use my electives for more programming courses if I want. The college offers advanced VB, one Java course, and quite a few C courses - intro to advanced, including C++. Also, it has several web programming & design courses - which I was gonna use up all my electives taking. However, now I am considering just taking a couple of web courses and using 2 electives for programming - maybe intro to C++, and Java.

 

On my FC2 machine, I've installed java and mysql. Also, I think when I did the initial installation, I picked python (or maybe it installed by default). How do I know if I have python correctly installed and working?

 

Also, what editor should I start using for, say, learning python (or java). I installed eclipse on my win2k machine and played around with it. It seems great, but with a full-featured IDE, you need to use some of your brain power to learn the IDE and the new language at the same time. I'd rather use a very simple editor, so that my limited brain power can concentrate on learning just the language at first.

 

I have dumped my win2k machine, and am now using FC2 only. I haven't installed any IDEs on it yet. What does it come with by default? I read an article in a recent linux mag about kdevelop being a good editor. I don't think I have it on my machine though.