Curtis Brown

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since Jan 10, 2006
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Recent posts by Curtis Brown

The latest version of the SDK (standard edition) is 1.5.0, update 6, which you could download from here:

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp

It was cofusing for me, the first time around, because there's SE, EE, ME, with, or without netbeans, etc. etc. etc.! (for the record, SE is, obviously, "standard edition", EE is "enterprise edition", ME is (I think) "micro edition"... whatever ME means, it's for embeded devices, such as telephones, & PDAs, if I'm not mistaken.
18 years ago
An other reason you may want to program with binary values...

Something that you might have occasion to do, as a programmer, is set up a bit-register of flags... what I mean is, maybe you have a one-byte (8-bit) set of flags, where each bit represents some toggle in your program....



Then, what you'd want to do is use the "bitwise" operators, OR, AND, XOR (exclusive or), or the bitwise complement. In java the operators are |, &, ^, ~, respectively.

Depending on if you wanted the flag to always toggle, only toggle if off, only toggle if on, etc. you'd use a different operation.

Now, as to the hardware issue, the way microchips work is by deciding if any message is a 1 or a 0 based upon voltage. You could make hardware that appeared to "think" in decimal, but it would be because you designed a hardware abstraction layer that obfusicated the binary qualities from the programmer... there really wouldn't be any point in doing this, as it would be cumbersome, and have less robust functionality than we currently have at our disposal.

18 years ago
lol, Fred

For a less-coy answer, I'll toss in my two cents: Yes.

If you'd asked me 8 years ago, "Is it smart to learn Java?" I'd have said maybe, but only if you don't have anything better to spend your time learning.

Now, Java has been in-use for a decade, and it's very mature. Not only is it a mature language, it's also got a huge cache of books, tutorials, classes... and of course job opportunities.

If your friend's *real* question is, "Would I be more marketable if I learned Java?" then what you really ought to do is look at the job openings in your area (or places you'd consider relocating too.)

Of course most people here would encourage you (or your friend) to learn Java -- it is after-all a Java forum. Still, you could also find people saying that depending on the task at hand other tools might be more appropriate.

But, the bottom line for your friend, I presume, is -- can they make money, improve job security, and/or get more interesting work if they learned Java, and I feel that the answer to that issue is a resounding, YES!
18 years ago
Chris,

I'm new on the Java scene..... fundamentally, I'm still really at the "Hello World" stage with Java. In tandem, I'm also focusing on the OO paradigm (i.e. Arthur J. Riel's Object-Oriented Design Heuristics) and "extreme programming" concepts.

Where does your book fit into my "curriculum"?

Thanks!
My choice is C - Plaid

Arguably, yes, the women sell more books, but there are now more Head First books with women on the covers than with men on the covers (unless I'm mistaken!

Frankly, I don't intend to buy any HF books in order to drool on the cover photo, my interest lies in the entertaining format, and educational content.

With that in mind...

My choice (again) is C - Plaid. This gentleman looks as if he's got a secret. That if you buy him lunch, he'll share it with you, and it will make your life much easier....

So easy in-fact, that you can keep up your deadlines with one hour of work in the mornings, then spend the rest of the day with him on Slashdot posting "Dupe" or getting into religious wars about Linux and Microsoft.

Who wouldn't want that?!?
[ January 22, 2006: Message edited by: Curtis Brown ]
18 years ago
This smells like a homework question. In fact, if you'd searched, you'd have discovered a person (a possible class-mate?) posted the question only about a week ago.

Nevertheless, try to think about what *you* do to convert numerals to words, and see how you might then teach a computer to do same.
18 years ago
My guess is that you were perhaps up a little too late

I'm unable to replicate this. What is the code in question?
18 years ago

So... I wrote a completely different java code that highlighted my confusion, and I included plenty of System.out.print()statements at various stages so I could clearly see what was actually occurring, and what was overwriting what. Suddenly it became far more 'obvious' (dangerous word, I know!) and then I went back to the exercise and sorted it out immediately!



This issue has got me wondering....

I haven't used an IDE since 1996 when I was developing a database in 4D. One of my favorite features of that software was a built-in debugger that would allow you to step through your scripts one line at a time, with a side-panel showing all references, variables, etc. and their current value.

Is this a statndard feature in an IDE these days, or is it in them at all? Do you need a de-bugger for this feature? I'm so clueless on that topic, I honestly don't even know how to ask appripriate questions about it!

^CB
18 years ago
Michael,

Sorry for being clueless, but what do you mean when you say use "Integers, not ints"... int's are 32-bit numerical data-types... I though Integer in java-speak was a part of the API....
18 years ago
It'd be good to know a bit about you, in order to recommend the best book(s)!

Such as:
how much would you say you know about Java now?
what prior experience do you have in scripting / programming / databases, etc...?
Are you a hands-on learner? or do you prefer strict technical materials?

Personally, I'm enjoying "Head First Java".. it's a little slow moving from one concept to the next (from *my* perspective -- because I have quite a bit of prior programming experience) but it's a great format!

If you already know C+, you might just want to skip straight to a good reference book such as "Java in a Nutshell"...

Good Luck!
18 years ago
Maybe I'm missing what you're really asking (I'm very new to Java) but I'm stuck on your comment about adding items to the array arg by arg...

I'm envisioning a special method to append the arg to the array, regardless of the size of the array... methinks it'd be something like:



I know this won't compile, but maybe it get's the idea through...
18 years ago
Hey, don't fret over it! Glad you got it workin'!
18 years ago
I just re-did this excersise (deleted the .class files) and was able to get the files to compile simply by typing:



Here are the two files: DrumKit.java:


And DrumKitTestDrive.java:
18 years ago
I think that you may need to compile them at the same time, or perhaps do DrumKit.java first so that the Test-Drive knows it's a valid class....

What error(s) are you getting? (the cannot read error is new to me... was the file closed, or perhaps you had it open still for editing???)
[ January 12, 2006: Message edited by: Curtis Brown ]
18 years ago

You're really speeding, it's really worth doing the exerceises and sleeping over it all. Try it out. The longer you spend learning and thinking about it, the long it will stick!



Too true! Given my background, I think the first 3 chapters went really fast because, for the most part, it already made sense to me... I have been doing all the exercises, and I'm pretty happy with my results, except perhaps for the puzzlers -- those are rather difficult for me.

I'm on the last excersise of chapter 3, we'll see if I can naturally keep up the pace for long before I get deep into new concepts and have to slow down to absorb it...

Also, this book is fairly entertaining, maybe I'll read it through a second time

Yes, I think the Nutshell book is far better as a reference than as a learning tome -- I think both books together (along with tutorials and forums online) should be adequite to build a strong foundation in Java.... Time will tell!
18 years ago