Chrannukah
We had a really nice Christmas here in Texas. The boy loved it. I have to say though, he didn't get the whole Christmas experience in my opinion. I mean, I have that memory from my childhood where I went down stairs to see the tree suddenly full of presents. But, he didn't have that. I mean, first of all, he sleeps on the first floor. So, there you go. No stairs. Then, we don't have a Christmas tree. Instead we have a Hanukkah room. I'm not complaining though, don't get me wrong. I'm not sure that my own Christmas nostalgia is rooted in reality. When it comes down to it, I can't recreate my exact memories for him, and I don't think I'd want to. He's going to have his own fun memories. He's going to have fond memories of both Hannukah and Christmas. Really, he's got it good. Plus, I think I really like the idea that one set of memories will be with one set of grandparents, and the other with the other. It makes it easier to figure out who we spend the holidays with, that's for sure. Though, we don't actually travel for the holidays. Not in the past few years anyway.
Speaking of the boy, his play has gotten very imaginative lately. I almost want to call it "sophisticated." Not only does he no longer need me to play with him but when he does play, he seems to have a story to go with it. It's not just randomly banging on things or driving trucks around, he actually narrates his play. Often his Duplo guy (conveniently named Guy) has actual conversations with the other Duplo guy (also named Guy.) Based on what I overhear, they both seem to like trucks, machines, and speaking in very high voices. Ironically, I think the guys are owned by the Duplo dog, not the other way around. Every time my son picks up the dog he starts saying, "Guy? Guuuuy? Where is Guy?" Then the dog will drive the tractor while the guy (or maybe guys) ride in the cart that it pulls. It's really fun to watch him play though. It's very funny.
Relearning Java has been frustrating. It's not hard, it's just that I'm impatient. I really want to jump into the harder stuff so I can actually do stuff with Java. Right now I'm doing little programs just for the sake of doing the programs in the books and tutorials. They're completely uninteresting. Once I get to I/O (file management) it'll actually be something I'm interested in doing. Writing and reading files is something that's useful. Still, I'm doing my best to be patient and (re)learn the fundamentals first.
I have to say though, I'm understanding parts of Java I never really understood before. Sun (or Oracle or whomever it is that owns Java these days) made a really sweet tutorial program called BlueJ. It's built specifically to teach Object Oriented Programming (something I'm always had trouble wrapping my brain around) to high school students. So, I took a crack at it. It sort of graphically represents your Java code. You write actual Java code, but then the environment turns it into something visual. Not WHAT you wrote, but HOW you wrote. Like, if you right code about a bicycle, it doesn't show a bicycle. It shows the structure of your code graphically. Ummmm, I have no idea if I explained that well... So, Java has things called Classes, and Classes are Objects, and that's just as confusing to me as it sounds. Still, the point is that BlueJ will actually show Classes as objects. So when you write the code it creates a little package, and that package has traits and Methods and it's all available for you to click and drag and interact with instead of just being a bunch of text. Just take my word for it, it's a fantastic way to learn about programming.
Anyhow, I think that's all I got for now. Christmas was great and life is good. I'll check in later. Happy New Year if I forget to post before then.
Speaking of the boy, his play has gotten very imaginative lately. I almost want to call it "sophisticated." Not only does he no longer need me to play with him but when he does play, he seems to have a story to go with it. It's not just randomly banging on things or driving trucks around, he actually narrates his play. Often his Duplo guy (conveniently named Guy) has actual conversations with the other Duplo guy (also named Guy.) Based on what I overhear, they both seem to like trucks, machines, and speaking in very high voices. Ironically, I think the guys are owned by the Duplo dog, not the other way around. Every time my son picks up the dog he starts saying, "Guy? Guuuuy? Where is Guy?" Then the dog will drive the tractor while the guy (or maybe guys) ride in the cart that it pulls. It's really fun to watch him play though. It's very funny.
Relearning Java has been frustrating. It's not hard, it's just that I'm impatient. I really want to jump into the harder stuff so I can actually do stuff with Java. Right now I'm doing little programs just for the sake of doing the programs in the books and tutorials. They're completely uninteresting. Once I get to I/O (file management) it'll actually be something I'm interested in doing. Writing and reading files is something that's useful. Still, I'm doing my best to be patient and (re)learn the fundamentals first.
I have to say though, I'm understanding parts of Java I never really understood before. Sun (or Oracle or whomever it is that owns Java these days) made a really sweet tutorial program called BlueJ. It's built specifically to teach Object Oriented Programming (something I'm always had trouble wrapping my brain around) to high school students. So, I took a crack at it. It sort of graphically represents your Java code. You write actual Java code, but then the environment turns it into something visual. Not WHAT you wrote, but HOW you wrote. Like, if you right code about a bicycle, it doesn't show a bicycle. It shows the structure of your code graphically. Ummmm, I have no idea if I explained that well... So, Java has things called Classes, and Classes are Objects, and that's just as confusing to me as it sounds. Still, the point is that BlueJ will actually show Classes as objects. So when you write the code it creates a little package, and that package has traits and Methods and it's all available for you to click and drag and interact with instead of just being a bunch of text. Just take my word for it, it's a fantastic way to learn about programming.
Anyhow, I think that's all I got for now. Christmas was great and life is good. I'll check in later. Happy New Year if I forget to post before then.