HACKER Q&A
📣 hn_asker

Learning How to Program Offline


My friend's daughter is stuck in the hospital. She has no access to a computer/internet and is pining to learn to program to pass the time.

What books do you recommend (particularly Java and Javascript) to learn in this offline context? Any alternatives to books?

  👤 tech234a Accepted Answer ✓
While I haven't used any of the books myself, it seems that there are many results when I search Google for "java book pdf" or "javascript book pdf", though many of the Java books seem to be older. There's also WikiBooks, which has simpler/shorter books, though it seems that their printable and PDF versions of books aren't updated as frequently as the wiki contents.

One idea might be to load up a flash drive/memory card with a bunch of different PDF books as well as Node.JS, Visual Studio Code, Java JDKs, Java IDEs, etc. and let her try them and see what works best for her.

👤 wmoser
How old is she? Lauren Ipsum from NoStarch press was a good read if you are interested in the topics. I think they also sell Python flash cards, don’t know how much experience you’d need for them to be useful.
👤 idkidkidkidk
For Java, we could try:

OCA: Oracle Certified Associate Java SE 8 Programmer I Study Guide: Exam

Pretty boring read but would definitely provide her a great base for getting to Java. Best wishes to your friend's daughter!