Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Teaching Java to High School Students...
Part of being a good citizen of the planet requires one to give back to the community...
In the past, I have mentioned that I spend three nights a week after work teaching Java to high-school aged students how to code in Java. When I threw out the call for assistance to industry analysts and large software vendors for assistance, they pretended they didn't hear my call. Luckily, one person did. His name is Yakov Fain who graciously donated copies of his wonderful book: The Java Tutorial for the Real World.
Normally, most book reviews posted in the blogosphere are all about the perceptions of an individual and what they have learned from the book by reading it. Having used it in a real-world setting by teaching high-school students I can say that my perspective of this book is a lot different. This book has gems that on the surface would have felt distracting if I simply read them but in this context proved invaluable.
If you want your kids to learn how to program in Java, there is no other book I would recommend for purchase. I am surprised to know that on Amazon, inferior books such as the Java Tutorial and Head First Java are actually selling more copies. Maybe if book buyers not only understood the content of the book but the soul of the authors, the velocity of sales for books in this category would change.
Anyway, we have a total of six more classes to go. I would love for someone who works for the likes of Dell, Gateway, Apple, HP, etc to consider making a generous donation of older model laptops so that these kids have the ability to have a computer in their own home and won't lose the knowledge that they worked so hard to obtain...
| | View blog reactionsIn the past, I have mentioned that I spend three nights a week after work teaching Java to high-school aged students how to code in Java. When I threw out the call for assistance to industry analysts and large software vendors for assistance, they pretended they didn't hear my call. Luckily, one person did. His name is Yakov Fain who graciously donated copies of his wonderful book: The Java Tutorial for the Real World.
Normally, most book reviews posted in the blogosphere are all about the perceptions of an individual and what they have learned from the book by reading it. Having used it in a real-world setting by teaching high-school students I can say that my perspective of this book is a lot different. This book has gems that on the surface would have felt distracting if I simply read them but in this context proved invaluable.
If you want your kids to learn how to program in Java, there is no other book I would recommend for purchase. I am surprised to know that on Amazon, inferior books such as the Java Tutorial and Head First Java are actually selling more copies. Maybe if book buyers not only understood the content of the book but the soul of the authors, the velocity of sales for books in this category would change.
Anyway, we have a total of six more classes to go. I would love for someone who works for the likes of Dell, Gateway, Apple, HP, etc to consider making a generous donation of older model laptops so that these kids have the ability to have a computer in their own home and won't lose the knowledge that they worked so hard to obtain...
