Secrets of Asherah Forum

(Misleading topic ahoy)

So, I'm trying to learn how to...  What, write Java?  Program Java?  How to Java?

ANYWAY I'm trying to learn Java in my free time (as of about two hours ago from writing this), but the resources my friend passed to me are, well, useless.  The textbook she gave me is too wordy, so I'm basically skimming it for the important stuff.  And all the websites I've found don't give much in the way of complex tutorials past the infamous "Hello World!" sample.  Everything else they have is just basic facts of the components of the Java language.

What I need help with is this:

I learn things like this better by doing rather than reading.  I didn't spend my first three months learning violin by reading a book, or learn to play the upright/double bass by reading a book, when I switched to that instrument in high school.  I didn't learn how to shoot effectively by reading a book, and I learned how to put together a computer from the ground up in a period of 15 minutes by DOING, not by reading.

So, the point: if anyone knows of ANY tutorials or fancy learning resources that can teach me to do Java by actually doing it and not reading about it, please send them my way.  I don't care why you should truncate strings, I want to know how to effectively and properly write them.

Can anyone help with this?  Thanks in advance!  As a reward, here's something I found in that textbook:

Currently, I'm partial to the following:

To Hell and Back by Sabaton [Power Metal] (It's about Lt. Audie Murphy.  If you don't know who he is, drop everything and read up on him right now)

In the Ghetto, Don't Cry Daddy, & Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley [Classic Rock 'n' Roll] (Going through some girl problems, if you couldn't tell by the last song)

Ain't That A Kick in the Head by Dean Martin [Jazz] (See previous)

Teardrop by Massive Attack [Chill/Down Tempo/Experimental Rock] (Recognizable as the theme to the show House; relaxation song)

Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show [Bluegrass/Americana] (Reminds me of home, so it's comforting while I go through a rough patch of life; band is from Virginia, based in Tennessee, and the song is about someone going home to North Carolina, where I'm from originally)

Rational Gaze by Meshuggah [Extreme Metal] (This is my "get big" workout song)

And basically anything by the eternally wonderful Frank Sinatra [Jazz]

I'll be happy to provide links to each if anyone needs them.  Except Frank Sinatra, no one should need help finding his stuff, haha.

Dire's still around.  He pops into the forums once or twice every week or two.

I'm currently taking two lecture classes and a lab for the summer, and I just got a job at Busch Gardens.  That starts for real in the morning (6 June 2014).  So, if anyone goes on vacation in Florida, come say hello!

I was able to go back to my parents' house for a few days, so I now have the doodad that lets me hook my camera up to my laptop, so expect a massive influx of more pictures from my trip to Chile, Ash (and everyone else, of course).  I have plenty of stories to tell, so prepare to hear some stuff.  I'll try to borrow (shamelessly copy and save from Facebook) pictures a friend with an amazing camera (thousands of dollars of equipment, really) took of the night sky (including a few distant galaxies!).

At the end of the month, I'll have more free time to talk to people and play catch-up or whatever you kids play these days.  But by the end of August, I'll be starting up the fall semester with an insane class schedule (two geology labs, a geology lecture, and two high-level chemistry lectures and labs.  I'm expecting to add a calculus class on top of that, AND work.  I've been told I might literally lose my mind.).

If anyone ever wants to chat, you can find me on Steam (if you so use that program) at leoleonidas1.

Alternatively, you are all free to email me at this address.  I'll try to remember to delete personal information from my automatic signature in my responses. (basically, just my phone number, unless you weirdos want to "text" at me)

I'd link my facebook, but I'm sure I'm pushing the boundaries already, so Kaneda Ash might have something to say about that.

We couldn't use the VLT, no.  That was during the day so you wouldn't see much with it, anyway! Haha.  But we did have some nice, 16 - 20 inch telescopes we could use at the place we were staying.  As soon as I get an adapter for my camera's memory card, I'll throw up the pictures from ALMA and the other places we saw, as well.

Hey all (if anyone still gets on here), I just got back from my trip to Chile!  I don't have any pictures of the night sky, sadly, because I didn't have my camera that could do that with me during the trip.  But I do have some nice pictures of the desert, the VLT, and ALMA.  None of the VLT pictures are on the platform with the telescopes, sadly, because the wind was too strong so it was a safety risk for us to go out there.  As soon as I have the pictures from my camera, I'll post a dropbox link with all of them for you all to see!

So over the past few months, I've gone on intermittently about how I'm going to the Atacama desert in Chile for about a week and some change (10 days, really) to stare at stars.  I'm going to be touring the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) facility, VLA (Very Large Array) facility, and the Paranal Observatory (hosting the VLT (Very Large Telescope)).  Besides these, we'll also be spending most of the time in-country staying at a lodge in the desert, using smaller scale telescopes (8 - 16 inches, MAYBE 20 at the most) to do observations of our own, and taking pictures of the sky/stuff in the telescope.

If anyone that still checks this would like to see pictures when I return, I will gladly overload/destroy Dropbox's servers with all the pictures I can bring back with me, to share with you all.

If not, I'll just balloon them up, print them out on the highest quality gloss paper, and stare at them endlessly until time ends.

Cheers!

-Diredog

I wish this forum was more active.  I miss all you crazy people.

My injury has recovered to a point where it does not preclude me from what I wanted to do originally, it's just that it'll be a harder path to take from here, than the one I was on.  I'm still staying in school and seeking my degree, and I AM looking forward to the trip in May.

But thank you for the support, Ash.  It's much appreciated.  I haven't really found much support among my friends so far (see attached picture for the situation with that).  As for focusing on the world around me, I'm kinda trying to get around to talking to a girl in one of my classes. (Spoiler alert: she's cute.)



**RELEVANT PICTURE: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4dfgcs6ruf1t6yp/funny-depression-comic-smashed-hand_large.jpg