Programming Fundamentals

Java is the first language most students meet here; Python follows later. Both get a fundamentals page in the order they're actually taught.

Java Language Fundamentals

Java's defining decision, made before any of the OOP machinery covered elsewhere on this site comes into play, is static typing : every variable has a type fixed at compile time, checked before the program ever runs…

Python Idioms and Paradigms

Code that runs correctly and code that's "Pythonic" aren't always the same thing. Pythonic code follows a set of community-agreed idioms — patterns the language was specifically designed to make natural — codified early…