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10 Reasons to Learn Java Programming Language in 2024 and Why Java is Best
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10 Reasons to Learn Java Programming Language in 2024 and Why Java is Best
Java is one of the best programming languages created ever, and I am not saying this because I am a passionate Java developer, but Java has proved it in the last 20 years. Two decades is a big time for any Programming language, and Java has gained strength every passing day. Though there are times when Java development slows down, Java has responded well. Earlier with groundbreaking changes in the form of Enum, Generics, and Autoboxing in Java 5, performance improvement with Java 6, functional programming using the lambda expressions in Java 8, and Google's choice of language for Android apps development keeps Java as a front-line programming language.
Many computer science graduates often ask me which is the best programming language to start with? Which language should I learn to begin with? Shall I learn Java? Or shall I start with Python, etc.?
Well, it depends upon the definition of your best programming language; if it's popular, then obviously Java outscores everyone, even C, which is there for almost 50 years.
If it is in terms of Job opportunities, again, Java outscores everyone, even in 2024. You can get tons of Jobs opportunity by learning Java programming language; you can develop core Java-based server-side applications, J2EE web and enterprise applications, and can even go for Android-based mobile application development.
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Well, it depends upon the definition of your best programming language; if it's popular, then obviously Java outscores everyone, even C, which is there for almost 50 years.
If it is in terms of Job opportunities, again, Java outscores everyone, even in 2024. You can get tons of Jobs opportunity by learning Java programming language; you can develop core Java-based server-side applications, J2EE web and enterprise applications, and can even go for Android-based mobile application development.
A quick search on indeed.com shows more than 150K flexible or remove Java jobs available now, which is again only a portion of it but Java is also doing great in terms of remote Job opportunities and if you are looking for a remote tech job in 2024, having Java skills in your resume can make a difference.
Similarly, f you are not coming from C and C++ background and want to learn your first programming language, I will suggest choosing Java.
In this article, I will share my list of reasons, and why you should learn Java programming, and why I think Java is the best programming language created ever.
Btw, if you have already made your mind to learning Java and just looking for the best resource to start with, then I suggest you join The Complete Java Master Class on Udemy. One of the most up-to-date and comprehensive courses to learn Java. It was recently updated for Java 11 as well.
Similarly, f you are not coming from C and C++ background and want to learn your first programming language, I will suggest choosing Java.
In this article, I will share my list of reasons, and why you should learn Java programming, and why I think Java is the best programming language created ever.
Btw, if you have already made your mind to learning Java and just looking for the best resource to start with, then I suggest you join The Complete Java Master Class on Udemy. One of the most up-to-date and comprehensive courses to learn Java. It was recently updated for Java 11 as well.
Why you should learn Java Programming Language in 2024
Here is my list of 10 reasons, which I tell anyone who asks my opinion about learning Java, and whether Java is the best programming language in terms of opportunities, development, and community support.
1. Java is Easy to learn
Many would be surprised to see this as one of the top reasons for learning Java or considering it as the best programming language, but it is. If you have a steep learning curve, it would be difficult to get productive in a short span of time, which is the case with most professional projects.
Java has fluent English like syntax with minimum magic characters like Generics angle brackets, which makes it easy to read Java programs and learn quickly.
Once a programmer is familiar with the initial hurdles with installing JDK and setting up PATH and understands How Classpath works, it's pretty easy to write a program in Java.
2. Java is an Object-Oriented Programming Language
Another reason, which made Java popular is that it's an Object Oriented Programming language. Developing an OOP application is much easier, and it also helps to keep the system modular, flexible, and extensible.
Once you have knowledge of crucial OOP concepts like Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, and Inheritance, you can use all those with Java. Java itself embodies many best practices and design patterns in its library.
Java is one of the few close to 100% OOP programming languages. Java also promotes the use of SOLID and Object-oriented design principles in the form of open source projects like Spring, which make sure your object dependency is managed well by using the Dependency Injection principle.
Once you have knowledge of crucial OOP concepts like Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, and Inheritance, you can use all those with Java. Java itself embodies many best practices and design patterns in its library.
Java is one of the few close to 100% OOP programming languages. Java also promotes the use of SOLID and Object-oriented design principles in the form of open source projects like Spring, which make sure your object dependency is managed well by using the Dependency Injection principle.
3. Java has Rich API
One more reason for the Java programming language's huge success is its Rich API, and most importantly, it's highly visible because it comes with Java installation.
When I first started Java programming, I used to code Applets, and those days Applets provides excellent animation capability, which amazes new programmers like us, who are used to code in Turbo C++ editor.
Java provides API for I/O, networking, utilities, XML parsing, database connection, and almost everything. Whatever is left is covered by open source libraries like Apache Commons, Google Guava, Jackson, Gson, Apache POI, and others.
You can further see my post on 20 essential open source libraries for Java programmers to learn more about useful libraries Java developers should know.
When I first started Java programming, I used to code Applets, and those days Applets provides excellent animation capability, which amazes new programmers like us, who are used to code in Turbo C++ editor.
Java provides API for I/O, networking, utilities, XML parsing, database connection, and almost everything. Whatever is left is covered by open source libraries like Apache Commons, Google Guava, Jackson, Gson, Apache POI, and others.
You can further see my post on 20 essential open source libraries for Java programmers to learn more about useful libraries Java developers should know.
4. Powerful development tools like Eclipse, Netbeans
Believe it or not, Eclipse and Netbeans have played a huge role in making Java one of the best programming languages. Coding in IDE is a pleasure, especially if you have coded in DOS Editor or Notepad.
They not only help in code completion but also provides a powerful debugging capability, which is essential for real-world development. Integrated Development Environment (IDE) made Java development much more comfortable, faster, and fluent. It's easy to search, refactor, and read code using IDEs.
Apart from IDE, the Java platform also has several other tools like Maven and ANT for building Java applications, Jenkins for Continuous Integration and delivery, decompilers, JConsole, Visual VM for monitoring Heap usage, etc.
You can also see my post 10 Essential Tools for Java Programmers to learn more about tools Java programmers use in day-to-day life.
They not only help in code completion but also provides a powerful debugging capability, which is essential for real-world development. Integrated Development Environment (IDE) made Java development much more comfortable, faster, and fluent. It's easy to search, refactor, and read code using IDEs.
Apart from IDE, the Java platform also has several other tools like Maven and ANT for building Java applications, Jenkins for Continuous Integration and delivery, decompilers, JConsole, Visual VM for monitoring Heap usage, etc.
You can also see my post 10 Essential Tools for Java Programmers to learn more about tools Java programmers use in day-to-day life.
5. Great collection of Open Source libraries
Open-source libraries ensure that Java should be used everywhere. Apache, Google, and other organization have contributed a lot of great libraries, which makes Java development easy, faster, and cost-effective.
There are frameworks like Spring, Struts, Maven, which ensure that Java development follows best practices of software craftsmanship, promotes the use of design patterns, and assisted Java developers in getting their job done.
I always recommend searching for functionality in Google before writing your own code. There is a good chance that it's already coded, tested, and available for ready use.
You can also see Top 20 Libraries and API for Java Programmers for my recommended libraries for Java developers. Also Maven provides a nice way to organize the Java library which means you don't need to manually search for JAR files.
There are frameworks like Spring, Struts, Maven, which ensure that Java development follows best practices of software craftsmanship, promotes the use of design patterns, and assisted Java developers in getting their job done.
I always recommend searching for functionality in Google before writing your own code. There is a good chance that it's already coded, tested, and available for ready use.
You can also see Top 20 Libraries and API for Java Programmers for my recommended libraries for Java developers. Also Maven provides a nice way to organize the Java library which means you don't need to manually search for JAR files.
You can further use tools like Maven or Gradle for dependency management. They even take care of bringing in transitive dependency and with correct version which is probably the biggest headache while using third party libraries.
6. Wonderful Community Support
A strong and thriving community is the biggest strength of the Java programming language and platform. No matter how good a language is, it wouldn't survive if there is no community to support, help, and share their knowledge.
Java has been very lucky; it has lots of active forums, StackOverflow, open-source organizations, and several Java user groups to help everything.
There is a community to help beginners, advanced, and even expert Java programmers. Java actually promotes taking and giving back to community habits. Lots of programmers, who use open source, contribute as committer, tester, etc.
Many Expert programmers provide advice FREE at various Java forums and StackOverflow. This is simply amazing and gives a lot of confidence to a newbie in Java. This biggest community is probably the biggest strength of Java developers, they know that they are not alone.
Java has been very lucky; it has lots of active forums, StackOverflow, open-source organizations, and several Java user groups to help everything.
There is a community to help beginners, advanced, and even expert Java programmers. Java actually promotes taking and giving back to community habits. Lots of programmers, who use open source, contribute as committer, tester, etc.
Many Expert programmers provide advice FREE at various Java forums and StackOverflow. This is simply amazing and gives a lot of confidence to a newbie in Java. This biggest community is probably the biggest strength of Java developers, they know that they are not alone.
7. Java is FREE
People like FREE things, Don't you? So if a programmer wants to learn a programming language or an organization wants to use technology, COST is an important factor. Since Java is free from the start, i.e., you don't need to pay anything to create a Java application.
This FREE thing also helped Java to become popular among individual programmers, and among large organizations. If you are curious where exactly Java is used in the real world, see that post. I have talked about Java's adoption all around the world.
The availability of Java programmers and developers is another big thing, which makes an organization choose Java for their strategic development.
This FREE thing also helped Java to become popular among individual programmers, and among large organizations. If you are curious where exactly Java is used in the real world, see that post. I have talked about Java's adoption all around the world.
The availability of Java programmers and developers is another big thing, which makes an organization choose Java for their strategic development.
8. Excellent documentation support - Javadocs
When I first saw Javadoc, I was amazed. It's a great piece of documentation, which tells a lot of things about Java API. I think without Javadoc documentation, Java wouldn't be as popular, and it's one of the main reasons, Why I believe Java is the best programming language.
Not everyone has the time and intention to look at the code to learn what a method does or how to use a class. Javadoc made learning easy and provide an excellent reference while coding in Java.
Not everyone has the time and intention to look at the code to learn what a method does or how to use a class. Javadoc made learning easy and provide an excellent reference while coding in Java.
With the advent of IDEs like Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA, you don't even need to look at Javadoc explicitly in the browser, but you can get all the information in your IDE window itself.
9. Java is Platform Independent
In the 1990s, this was the main reason for Java's popularity. The idea of platform independence is great, and Java's tagline "write once run anywhere," and acronym "WORA" were enticing enough to attract lots of new development in Java.
This is still one of the reasons for Java being the best programming language, most Java applications are developed in the Windows environment and run on the Linux platform.
Yes, Java is everywhere, it's on the desktop, it's on mobile, it's on the card, almost everywhere and so are Java programmers. I think Java programmers outnumber any other programming language professional.
Though I don't have any data to back this up, it's based on experience. This vast availability of Java programmers is another reason why organizations prefer to choose Java for new development than any other programming language.
Having said that, programming is a massive field, and if you look at C and UNIX, which are still surviving and even stronger enough to live another 20 years, Java also falls in the same league.
Though there are a lot of talks about functional programming, Scala, and other JVM languages like Kotlin and Groovy, they need to go a long way to match the community, resources, and popularity of Java.
Also, OOP is one of the best programming paradigms, and as long as it will be there, Java will remain solid.
To start with, I recommend joining The Complete Java Master Class at Udemy. You can buy this course for just under $10 on Udemy's flash sale, which they run, I think every month. This course is very comprehensive and up-to-date and covers both Java SE 8 and other latest Java features. The course is also structured in a systematic way to provide beginners with all the knowledge and tools before they can understand complex concepts like multi-threading and concurrency.
It covers all essential Java 8 features described above in bootcamp style with a lot of focus on hands-on work.
If you can afford it, then this is the best course to learn Java online. To be honest, it's dirt cheap, even one day Java class cost around $100 in developing countries, forget about developing country. You can't get a comprehensive Java course less expensive than this.
I personally recommend Head First Java 3rd Edition to all beginners when it comes to books, as I have learned a lot from it myself. It's a great book to start if you don't know anything about Java, but unfortunately, it's not up-to-date.
Once you have gone through this book, you can pick any good Java books to learn key Java 8 features like lambda expression, method reference, Stream API, new Date, and Time API, default methods, etc.
The content is still valid, and Java Fundamentals have not changed, but I strongly suggest every programmer start with the latest Java version. Java 8 or Java 9 and on that parameter Modern Java in Action is currently the best book to learn Java. This book covers each topic in good depth. I even encourage you to read all three books by this author on Java 8 to learn Java 8 in depth.
You can also take a look at the official Java tutorials offered by Oracle. These tutorials are both comprehensive, up-to-date, and covered almost all crucial details of the Java programming language. Further, you can use Google along with your learning.
If you need to understand a particular concept, term, or any issue with Java, Google can point you to a specific resource. There are lots of blogs, tutorial sites, and free video tutorials on the internet to learn Java programming.
I have also created The Complete Java Developer RoadMap to take you from beginner to professional Java developer. That roadmap includes everything a Java programmer needs to learn like topics, tools, technologies, and libraries.
Few More Java Resources you may like
Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like the Java Programming language and these reasons to learn Java in 2024, then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or doubts about learning Java, then please drop a note.
P. S. - If you need more choices, particularly free online training courses to learn Java programming, you can also take a look at this list of best free Java courses that contain many free Java courses from sites like Udemy, Coursera, and others.
10. Java is Everywhere
Though I don't have any data to back this up, it's based on experience. This vast availability of Java programmers is another reason why organizations prefer to choose Java for new development than any other programming language.
Having said that, programming is a massive field, and if you look at C and UNIX, which are still surviving and even stronger enough to live another 20 years, Java also falls in the same league.
Though there are a lot of talks about functional programming, Scala, and other JVM languages like Kotlin and Groovy, they need to go a long way to match the community, resources, and popularity of Java.
Also, OOP is one of the best programming paradigms, and as long as it will be there, Java will remain solid.
How to Learn Java Programming from Scratch in 2024?
Now, if you decide to learn Java programming, here are a couple of resources to take a look at. I personally suggest joining an online course to start with and then picking a book, because they are almost always well written by authorities in the subject matter and catered for beginners.To start with, I recommend joining The Complete Java Master Class at Udemy. You can buy this course for just under $10 on Udemy's flash sale, which they run, I think every month. This course is very comprehensive and up-to-date and covers both Java SE 8 and other latest Java features. The course is also structured in a systematic way to provide beginners with all the knowledge and tools before they can understand complex concepts like multi-threading and concurrency.
It covers all essential Java 8 features described above in bootcamp style with a lot of focus on hands-on work.
If you can afford it, then this is the best course to learn Java online. To be honest, it's dirt cheap, even one day Java class cost around $100 in developing countries, forget about developing country. You can't get a comprehensive Java course less expensive than this.
I personally recommend Head First Java 3rd Edition to all beginners when it comes to books, as I have learned a lot from it myself. It's a great book to start if you don't know anything about Java, but unfortunately, it's not up-to-date.
Once you have gone through this book, you can pick any good Java books to learn key Java 8 features like lambda expression, method reference, Stream API, new Date, and Time API, default methods, etc.
The content is still valid, and Java Fundamentals have not changed, but I strongly suggest every programmer start with the latest Java version. Java 8 or Java 9 and on that parameter Modern Java in Action is currently the best book to learn Java. This book covers each topic in good depth. I even encourage you to read all three books by this author on Java 8 to learn Java 8 in depth.
You can also take a look at the official Java tutorials offered by Oracle. These tutorials are both comprehensive, up-to-date, and covered almost all crucial details of the Java programming language. Further, you can use Google along with your learning.
If you need to understand a particular concept, term, or any issue with Java, Google can point you to a specific resource. There are lots of blogs, tutorial sites, and free video tutorials on the internet to learn Java programming.
I have also created The Complete Java Developer RoadMap to take you from beginner to professional Java developer. That roadmap includes everything a Java programmer needs to learn like topics, tools, technologies, and libraries.
Few More Java Resources you may like
Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like the Java Programming language and these reasons to learn Java in 2024, then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or doubts about learning Java, then please drop a note.
P. S. - If you need more choices, particularly free online training courses to learn Java programming, you can also take a look at this list of best free Java courses that contain many free Java courses from sites like Udemy, Coursera, and others.
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