posted 15 years ago
I think the Cattle Drive is an excellent way to learn to code in Java, because that's how I did it.
I'm not in IT, I was just considering making a career jump (right before the big dot-com bubble burst) and was looking to enroll in a computer school as a programmer. When the school went belly-up the next day, (literally) I stumbled onto JavaRanch.
I had no programming experience, or training other than what I had read in books borrowed from the public library.
I signed up for the drive, and actually completed it.
While I wouldn't suggest that I am a cracker-jack programmer, I was able to gain an understanding of Java that I would never have from reading the how-to books alone.
I recommend the Cattle Drive without reservation. If you have difficulty with a concept, there's a bunch of folks who are ready, willing, and able to help you out until you understand.
I just code for fun, but most of the folks here are hard-core industry pros, and they know their cowpies!