How do I improve my java skills

Quote:

I want to do more coding and less theory if this makes sense.

Yes, that makes sense, once you do know the theory. :-D

I would try to develop applications, different kinds of.

You should start with solution 1 :)

What I did about 15 years ago when I started learning .NET world was to pick up some simple projects I was interested in; it can be anything, a tic tac toe game, an address book, a clock/timing utility, whatever you already have some knowledge of and/or interest in.

It should remain pretty simple, for a start. Do not directly jump to a full solution involving a database or any external entity. Focus on simple projects with which you will be able to grasp basic concepts. Only when you acquire the basis, than you will be able to progress to more complex concepts.

Search for example java projects which match your personal interests and needs.

Finally, the process could be synthesized by: read, try, test, debug, test, debug, rant, read, try, test, etc. If you get lost in of of these steps, we may be able to help (except for the ranting part, which you should keep to yourself).

Kindly.

Quote:

I want to do more coding and less theory if this makes sense.

Theory knowledge leads to better coding.
- Learn Algorithms and Data-Structures.
- Learn Boole algebra
- Learn one or more analyze methods, E.W. Djikstra top-Down method is a good start.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_and_bottom-up_design[^]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_programming[^]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra[^]
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd03xx/EWD316.PDF[^]

Quote:

i would like to get more experience with Java to be more confident in my coding as well as to be able to code better.

The debugger will help you to ensure that your coding does what you expect.
- Learn debugger
Debugger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[^]
Mastering Debugging in Visual Studio 2010 - A Beginner's Guide[^]
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/tools/windows/jdb.html[^]
https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/help/debugging-your-first-java-application.html[^]