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When I teach Java, I always teach it using nothing but a simple text editor and the command-line. I do advocate tools for development, but never, never, NEVER for someone who doesn’t understand Java at a fundamental level (compiler options, packages, namespaces, access modifiers, etc.)
It amuses me that I write this post in the code view of Performancing because the WYSIWYG view doesn’t give me the results I want. A good understanding of the fundamentals of any subject is so important, whether it is computing (my job), accounting (my old, rather hated, job) or music (my passion outside of job). Still it often seems like the hard way to begin with even if it is easier in the long run. The most helpful book I ever read about programming, that actually got me started when so many had failed, had no code at all in the first chapter. Rather, it explained the concepts of what a computer is and what programming is for. Armed with that knowledge getting started was so much easier. A much better approach than the books that make people write a program without explaining what goes on behind it.
