How to teach Java Web Dev Struts to PHP Progs?

Hello folks.

I am tasked to get 4 programmer colleagues to do Java Web Development using Struts for 4 weeks.

These programmers have not programmed in Java. But have been involved in projects using PHP and they seem to be comfortable with PHP but management wants them to get into Java/Struts.

First, I am not a teacher but a programmer but I think I would also like to do this. I have programmed Java web dev using Struts in several projects already.

Second, we are all currently involved in our own respective projects now.

I think I could yank them out of their seats 3 times a week (one hour each time) :} They have no choice...

Please suggest your view about how to go about it so they can be up to speed....
- sequence of topics.
- do they be given assignments?
- etc...

Thanks..

Well first let me say...good luck...I think you've been given an impossible task. The best senario would be to educate your management team a little to understand the cost and benefits of doing Java. The investment is a lot more than a few hours, but the benefits can be huge in terms of being able to handle changing requirements, lower code maintenance, and happier developers. In my opinion PHP is pretty much "throw away code"...good for a quick and dirty solution but certainly not a robust, long-term solution for an Enterprise app.

In the mean time, I would suggest perhaps working through the tutorials on the Sun site (www.java.sun.com) - great materials at a great price (free). Another good resource is Eckles, Thinking in Java.

Best of luck.