Reading Programming Books to learn , makes the whole process slow

Hi there,

I just need some suggestions,

I want to learn new programming languages and frameworks.
I want to learn Spring, EJB, Flex, GWT , DWR , Hibernate . Learning these things will take longer time if i follow books .
I know that learing framework is a different process and becoming an expert is a different thing . To be an expert needs practise.
So becoming an expert is a slow process , that i agree .

But just mere learning should be faster .
So if for learning new framework or programming language , if i follow books , it will take a very long time .

So i just want some suggestions that should i read books and practise examples of the books
or directly learning by hands on practise by just digging internet and following the examples or dummy projects .
What say.....

Oooh Aaarr

You cannot rush learning, so why are you worrying about reading slowly. I would worry far more about somebody who thinks he can learn a framework quickly.

I also think this thread ought to be on another forum, but I am not sure which one.

C.R.

Devaka Cooray suggested we try the Bunkhouse forum.

My two cents:

When I'm thinking about learning a big, hairy new thing (like a programming language for instance), I know that it's going to take LOTS of hours. Let's say that I want to learn Python (which I kind of do

). The way I think about it is that if I don't get any help at all - like I just start trying to read the language spec and the API docs, it might take me, for instance 1000 hours. Then I think if I get a half-assed book on the topic I might be able to cut that 1000 hours down to 500 hours. But then, if I can find a great book, that 1000 hours might go down to 300 hours. Or if I find a great class it might go down to 300 hours.

IMHO, not all technical books are the same - I've experienced some that get me down to 500 hours, and some that get to 300!

hth,

Bert