3MF

Java aquarium

I picked up my books for my next-semester classes today. Actually, one was merely a collection of three-hole-punched pages wrapped in plastic. I had to run to Office Depot to get my own binder to put it in. I shouldn't complain because it only cost me thirteen dollars. That is the text i'll be using in modern algebra. My other book looks like this:

That book is for my computer science intro to programming class. It's called Java Program Design. I almost threw up when i saw it. First of all, all the fish's bodies are stylized programming buzzwords: "class," "object," "method," etc. Secondly, who is this design supposed to appeal to? This type of illustration belongs on a shower curtain, not a text book. I suppose Java developers just have lowered design standards (as demonstrated by the awful user interfaces seen in most Java apps).

I'm not particularly interested in learning Java. It doesn't seem to have taken off as people thought it would. Why couldn't they teach C++ or something. As far as i can tell, most high powered apps on the PC or Mac are written in some C-flavored language. It would seem far more practical to me. Learning Java to understand programming techniques is like taking Latin to learn about language. You could do it that way, but what's the point? (OK, OK, so i did in fact take four years of Latin in high school, but i didn't mind because i was able to convince myself Latin was cool - in a geeky sort of way. There's no way i can convince myself that Java is cool. ) I'm just taking the class because it's a prerequisite for all the other computer classes and i'd like to have at least a Computer Science minor. I hope i don't regret it too much.

Posted by Matthew at December 16, 2004 11:05 PM