There is no doubt that object-oriented programming is a pillar of software development and also one of the reasons for a huge success of Java. A strong knowledge of object-oriented programming helps you to create better software.
It also helps you to better communicate your ideas to your team and fellow programmers. Despite being such an important technology, it’s difficult to find good programmers who understand OOP well.
Many programmers just think that OOP is nothing more than Abstraction, Inheritance, Encapsulation, and Polymorphism, without truly understanding these concepts and mastering them.
There is no doubt that they are the four pillars of Object-oriented programming, but OOP is much more than that. OOP is about thinking in terms of class and object, organizing your code by following the best practices, e.g. using SOLID design principles and design patterns.
It eventually helps you to write better software, which is easier to change and support. That’s why it’s very important for programmers and software developers to understand OOP.
In the past, I have shared a couple of books and free courses to learn object-oriented programming. However, in regards to the general feedback, I received several suggestions about sharing more thorough and complete courses to learn both basic and advanced OOP concepts.
In this post, I will attempt to respond to that feedback and provide a more extensive, thorough list of courses at both the beginner and advanced levels.
In this article, I am going to share some of the best courses that can help you learn more about object-oriented programming and design from scratch. I have also included both beginner and advanced courses to cater to Java programmers of different experience levels.
5 Object-Oriented Programming Courses for Java Developers
Without any further ado, here is my list of some of the best object-oriented and design courses for Java programmers. The list includes courses for both beginners as well as Java programmers with a couple of years of experience. No matter whether you know Java and OOP or not, you will learn a thing or two by joining these courses.
1. Master Object-Oriented Design in Java
It’s easy to learn Java, but its equally difficult to write production quality object-oriented code — that’s where this course will help you.
Most of the object-oriented courses you find on the Internet will just explain the OOP basics, e.g. the four pillars — abstraction, encapsulation, etc. But, few of them seem to go into detail about how to apply them to the real world.
What problem does abstraction solve? Why is it important? What happens if you don’t use the right level of abstraction? Or, how do you develop the skill to see things at the different level of abstraction, etc?
This course attempts to bridge that gap by explaining all the important tools and concepts of object-oriented programming that a professional Java developer should know.
You will start with OOP basics like any other Java course, but slowly, you will learn to design and develop software using the best practices in object-oriented programming.
You will learn about SOLID principles and see examples using them to write better code. You will also learn about several object-oriented design patterns, e.g. Template, Factory, Strategy, Observer, Builder, etc.
The course also covers advanced concepts, e.g. dependency injection and UML, and shows you how to use them as real projects.
Overall, this is a good course for learning more about object-oriented programming and design, and I highly recommend this to both junior and intermediate Java developers with a couple years of experience.
2. Absolute Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming in Java
This is another course from the author of the previous course. This course is actually more of a beginner level, and it’s better if you take this before joining the previous course — if you don’t have any previous background on OOP.
This course is slow-paced, simple, and perfect for beginners who want to understand classes and objects and how they help you write a more organized code.
You will learn about when an object is created and how it behaves with properties and methods when you run a Java program.
By the end of this course, you will understand the difference between a class and an object and important OOP techniques, such as inheritance and polymorphism.
Overall, this is a great course for beginners who want to understand object-oriented programming.
3. Java — Object Oriented Programming [For Absolute Beginners]
This is another course that focuses more on Java, but it covers object-oriented programming well. You can divide the course into two parts — the first part is chapter 1, which is solely focused on OOP, and the second part, which focuses on different Java features, e.g. Threads, IO, Streams, Java Garbage collection, and Exception handling.
In the first part, you will learn about OOP basics, like classes and objects, constructors, overloadings, and overriding methods, like data abstraction, encapsulation, and inheritance.
The good part is that it explains each concept with a demo that makes it easy to digest and remember. The course also focuses on static variables, which OOP doesn’t recommend and uses the abstract class and interface.
4. Object-Oriented Programming in Java: From the Beginning
Most of the courses you will find with object-oriented programming in Java focuses more on Java and less on OOP, but this course is different.
It’s true that an object-oriented programming course tends to focus on OOP and use Java for examples.
You will learn about the basics of object-oriented programming, e.g.what is the difference between OOP and procedural language, e.g. Java vs. C and things like abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, composition, and aggregation.
You will also learn about the abstract class interface and how objects are created using OOP.
This course now focuses on how Java supports OOP, e.g. getters and setters, access modifiers, use of interface, composition, overloading, static members, etc.
At last, the course also introduces some of the design patterns in Java and explains how they help you write better OOP code in Java.
In short, this is a good, short course on learning object-oriented programming and design in Java. With that said, it is a good option for both software engineers and working Java professionals.
5. Learn Object-Oriented Programming With Java in 250 Steps
This is an excellent and up-to-date course for learning object-oriented programming in Java.
This course teaches you object-oriented programming using Java 9 — it uses the latest and greatest tools, e.g. JShell, Eclipse IDE, and others. You will learn about the basics of programming, like loops, conditionals, functions, etc.
The course also explains the basics of object-oriented programming, including the abstract class, interface, constructors, overriding, overloading along with four pillars of OOP.
The best part about this course is that it’s very hands-on and you learn by doing, which is the best way to learn a new technology.
Another great thing about this course is that it’s FREE, but I am not sure how long it will remain free.
That’s all for now about some of the best courses to learn object-oriented programming and design in Java. These courses are great for anyone starting with both Java and object-oriented programming for the first time.
It will not only teach you OOP basics, but it will also show you how to design a program using OOP and the essential object-oriented design principles, such as coding for an interface and the SOLID principles for creating better Java applications.
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