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Daniel Hartin
18,106 PointsWhy workspaces???
I realize workspaces is a great tool for getting up and running quickly however as an IDE it lacks the syntax highlighting and code completion that IDE's such as Eclipse have to offer (and make it easier to understand what you are actually typing).
Why is the new Java course using workspaces when (in my opinion) java is a far too complex a language to be learning without any of these aids?
I am a little disappointed as I would of preferred the use of a proper IDE and learnt how to create stand alone desktop apps that I can use in the real world.
6 Answers
Craig Dennis
Treehouse TeacherHi Daniel Hartin ,
The plan is definitely to move to using (and learning) IDEs as soon as we get through the basics of the language.
We believe that jumping into the language, instead of downloading, setting up and possibly debugging your local systems, is going to be of more interest to the newer programmer, and more likely create successful completion of all the courses.
I believe in order to fully appreciate the amazing power of the IDEs that are out there for Java, we first need to understand what it is doing for us, so I think Workspaces provides a win-win situation. I anticipate only about one more course or so in the Workspaces, before we sail off into IDEs together.
Believe me, I definitely missed my editor, especially the red squiggly error lines, while making the course, and I too cannot wait to bring them front and center and show off all their power.
We're getting there!
What sort of desktop app are you hoping to create?
Gloria Dwomoh
13,116 PointsTo be honest I think it is good it began with workspaces. I didn't really code it all as I found it very simple and the challenges were enough for me to reinforce the concepts. It is a lot of work on workspaces, but many programmers that start with actual code editors with auto-complete and highly accurate debuggers find it hard to code without such tools. Yes I know those things are there to make our lives easier but I realized that if I can't feel comfortable coding without them I won't get as far. It is good as a beginner to learn how to code without depending on such tools, that helps to improve people's troubleshooting skills even if it is frustrating and as said earlier once someone new in coding is being introduced to these tools they'll appreciate it more. I also will love to see a course on java desktop or web applications, or at least data structures and algorithms with java because Treehouse illustrates things nicely and I think with the illustration those things will be easier to understand.
David Jenkinson
198 PointsI agree, for a complete newbie installing eclipse, and getting around it can be confusing. And everyone is running different hardware, OS's and distros these days. I like the workspace idea as an introduction.
William Zannoni
577 PointsI agree too, I already had a taste of Eclipse before starting here at Treehouse, but I think we can learn better without too many external tools at the beginning; IDEs should only be used when you already know what you are doing with Java, that's the only way to truly learn in my opinion.
Jeff Busch
19,287 PointsI just did the Java Basics with Sublime Text and the command prompt (Debian Linux). I started the course with Workspaces but missed the code completion and the familiar syntax highlighting.
kevinardo
Treehouse Project ReviewerThey could add some How to setup etc etc videos to the courses. There are on some of the older courses. Would make it even more awesome :)
Daniel Hartin
18,106 PointsDaniel Hartin
18,106 PointsHi Craig
Thanks for your reply, I have worked through the android track and done some basics in java separate to the courses here on android so I know a little. I don't have any particular desktop app ideas but I wanted to transfer some of my knowledge into the workplace which would mean creating programs with a GUI. I currently create basic scripts in VBA that help in my position but it isn't ideal as the version of excel determines the functionality a lot of the time and is extremely slow. Hopefully this is where the java track will progress onto , I will continue with the courses and am glad to hear it won't be on workspaces forever.
Thanks Daniel