The wide world of Java
Poker first, I finally broke the $100 mark playing $0.50/$1. I am undecided if I want to repeat this goal and continue at $0.50/$1 for the $200 mark, or if I want to go back to $1/$2 short handed. I only played a total of 63 minutes this week, pulling in $51 to make the goal. That feels so much better than the week before winning $16 but with 4 loosing days in a row.
Off to java land.
I finished up
- Java: A Beginner’s Guide, 3rd edition
by Herbert Schildt today. It was a good book, and I would recommend it for coming up to speed on Java the language. That is really all it covers, and as large as the java api is, that makes total sense. Schildt does believe that Java is for applets, and maybe I am missing something, but Java seems to be every where but in the form of applets. It is probably a carryover from the 1st edition then never got updated.
- Java: A Beginner’s Guide
went faster than expected, so my Java studies are on hold for the week. It’s back to math review for me with a focus on Linear Algebra and Calculus. Hopefully I will also make time to finish up David Sklansky’s
- The Threory of Poker
before the next few shipments from amazon arrive.
Yes, a few shipments, and one from Barnes and Noble as well. In the last week, I have been to Border’s twice, Barnes and Noble once, Half Priced Books once, placed one order with BN.com and two orders with Amazon.com, which was broken up into 3 shipments.
Why didn’t I just buy the books at one of my stops? I couldn’t justify the added cost of buying the books locally. Even with a Barnes and Nobel card the savings are usually significant online. When there is a dollar or two difference, or the book is inexpensive, I will buy the book locally.
The Barnes and Noble order is for
- Culture Shock: Ireland!
which covers the culture and customs that most travel guides leave out.
Next, to refocus my pre-school study binge, an amazon order for books on test taking and studying, discrete math, stats and a book on the java programmer and developer certification tests. Discrete Math is one of my two Ds, and it transfered to UNT but probably shouldn’t have. Without a strong grasp of Discrete and Linear, I am sure an AI class would kick my ass.
My last order was for more Java books. I ordered the Head First books on EJB, JSP and Design Patterns. After reading some of the Design Patterns book in Borders, I realised that the Gang of Four are smart, but boring. My current bookmark resides at page 13 of
- Design Patterns
and my original bookmark from when I bought the book more than six years ago is only at page 51. Most of my books are read, havn’t read, or reference. This is one of the few that is “couldn’t finish”, and I am glad I have an alternative coming.
Topics that need to be studied that I actually didn’t buy books for include, JUnit, Hibernate and Structs. After reading a little about Hibernate, I think I understand why I am having trouble finding good information on dealing with DataSources. No one does, they use Hibernate or something similar.