Learning Java, Still

I've been hammering away at both getting the project along (and it is coming along nicely), while learning Java (also coming along nicely). I've done enough that I've got some opinions about Java. Maybe I'm just doing things wrong, and whatever old Java sages stumble across this post will just shake their heads at the n00b.

Today's complaint - exceptions

First, I wanna complain about exceptions in Java. I like exceptions. I like code that blows up in a predictable, informative, and containable manner. At first, when I was having to declare all the potential exceptions a method could throw, I was annoyed. Then, I came to appreciate it. I had a detailed list of broad categories of things that could go kerblooie.

That is totally awesome.

So, there I was, hard at work, not understanding why I wasn't getting the results I was expecting. Then I noticed the log saying something about an exception, and continuing.

I looked, but I wasn't catching it anywhere. It was an unhandled exception, or at least I wasn't handling it, and I'm the only person I care about when it comes to code.

Dammit, things should blow up, not just continue. What the hell kind of "exception" is that, anyway? They call it "unchecked" (or is it the other way around?). I guess I'm just not smart enough for Java.

All is not suckitude

I'm using NetBeans, this go-round. It runs really well, handles my multi-mon just fine, and holds my hand without getting in the way too much. It isn't as good as Visual Studio - VS just has a bit more "polish" to it (much better autocomplete, for example), but it is easier to get to the guts of NetBeans.

Refactoring in Java is awesome. I have absolutely no fear about renaming things, moving them around, whatever. Since laying things out in both agiley and enterprisey fashion means a lot of little files, this is pretty important. I've been burned by refactoring in VS (but not a recent version), but not once in NetBeans.

Things could be easier, dammit!

Documentation is all over the map. The linux distros used to have this problem (they've gotten much better), where there were just so many options, and no clear consolidated approach. NetBeans packages as much as it can together, of course. This doesn't cover moving to production, or anything like that. I guess it is expecting too much to find documentation geared towards someone who is intent on learning an entire stack at once.

I'll get over the smell

As usual, I'm having fun learning. I've got enough of the basic patterns down that I'm getting a lot done fairly quickly. I'm sure I'm making dozens of beginner mistakes, but hopefully I'm doing a good enough job that those things are easy to find and fix.

I keep getting stuck on the server deployment scenarios. There's just too many of them. Not just app servers, but what those app servers need to provide. The acronyms are very thick.

Just more stuff to hammer on through. I'll keep you posted, of course.