Learning Vaadin (veteran Win32 programmer but no web or Java)

Hi,

I’ve been programming Win32 desktop database applications for over 15 years. I’ve been searching for a platform to develop web and mobile applications, and Vaadin looks really, really well.

I however don’t have any real experience with Java, or web development.

What would you guys recoomend for someone like me? Should I just jump into one of the Vaadin 7 books, or should I first tacke Java (maybe take a Java course in Udemy).

The problem obviously is time, as I need to mantain developing desktop applications while learning this new set of skills :slight_smile:

Best regards and thanks for any ideas,
Edgard Riba

Yes, you should first learn java. Vaadin was basically designed so that someone familiar with java can make web applications (“Rich Internet Applications”) without having to use the tools more traditionally employed for that purpose, such as javascript, GWT, PHP, etc. It hides a lot of complexity and browser-dependence.

You should learn java but shouldn’t spend a lot of time learning how to use the UI elements used for desktop java development (Swing, etc) because Vaadin provides replacements, although the idioms are somewhat similar (simpler in Vaadin). If you are planning to develop database applications, you’ll also want to learn JPA2.

For Vaadin itself, the Vaadin manual is just fine, though Vaadin 7 Cookbook has also been well reviewed (I haven’t read it personally). You’ll need to learn a little CSS, but that’s easy. Eventually you might want to learn javascript and the GWT, but you can do an awful lot without them.

It will be worth the effort.

Matthew Fleming

If you have C# experience I would not bother with a Java course , Java and C# is similar enough , get a good book like http://realworldpatterns.com/ to give you some insights on how to tacle a java project and some of the java jargon.

You should familiarize yourself with at least one of the Servlet Containers ( glassfish , tomcat , jboss , websphere ) … Since all your web applications are required to run on a Servlet Container / Application Server you should learn the basic of how it works , how to deploy , how to debug , how to check logs of the Servlet Container of choice…

Last but not least, you should play with all the IDE’s out there and choose one that works for you. ( Netbeans , Eclipse , IntelliJ … ), they will make your life a lot easier…

Learn Java —> GWT —> Vaadin

This guy posted wonderful tutorials to get you started in GWT: http://www.youtube.com/user/GWTLecturer

web app configurations can be frustrating at times.

I however don’t have any rea
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experience with Java, or web development.