Where to start programming Java?

I'm signed up for a course next school year for Java. Last year I was signed up for programming in Qbasic and Visual Basic 6(old, I know). The thing is, I know for a fact that this won't be as easy as the past courses(where we just drew stuff, and the fact that we didn't have to capitalize anything as everything was automatically corrected for the most part). I tried looking at some guides on the internet for starting Java programming, but they don't capture the feel of our teacher(For instance, when our teacher explained subroutines, she simply said "it's a group of commands that run in a single word that you can choose" or something like that). The guides refer to words that are not in my lexicon(I'm 15, fyi) and I'm sorta confused when they refer to things like "syntax".

TL;DR I'm looking for a guide for getting started to Java that explains things in laymans terms.

Syntax is basically grammar structure, where different letters and symbols are placed.

Furyhunter can probably help you with Java, though I recommend you learn Python to start out with. It will teach you a lot about fundamental concepts while helping you build good habits writing code. I'm not a fan of BASIC-like languages. They're outdated and not very helpful at preparing beginning programmers to tackle the harder languages.

I guess I'll start with Python until I can grasp the basic functions, then switch to Java. I just installed it and I'm reading the tutorial on the official site now.

I'd try C++, actually. C++ is really the foundation for lots of other languages, and if you understand it, moving on to Java shouldn't be hard at all.

Python could be helpful too, though, since it's so simple to grasp.

I agree with Fawfulfan. C++ has more flexibility than any other language, and there are more possibilities. It might look hard to start with, but trust me it will be your friend.

But remember that each language is better for somethings; C++ is good for application and games on the computer, while JAVA is good for the same but on the web, etc.

Fawfulfan said:

I'd try C++, actually. C++ is really the foundation for lots of other languages, and if you understand it, moving on to Java shouldn't be hard at all.

Python could be helpful too, though, since it's so simple to grasp.

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I was wondering about C++ but the way that some commands are layed out, starting with Python is easier. Practically nothing is the same from BASIC to something like Python or Java due to the ease of acess of BASIC.

C++ is not the language you want to actually code in. C++ is the language you want to start out with. It teaches good habits and syntax that applies to most every language that exists today.

Plus, everything else will seem easy after dealing with C++.