Switches, Branching, Looping, Operators Argh!

I went through a lot of theory today, got about 10% of the way through the JB Java course.  I plan to finish part four of the first project tomorrow. Ironically I found the project sections today easier than some of the questions at the ends of the sections I went through.  So much logic covered today, I'm hoping I retain it.

I found so many labelled-hard programming questions I ran through today that I answered quite differently than others that posted.  Sometimes it was because it looked like the answerer had previous experience and used concepts that weren't yet covered. Usually I thought my answers ended up fairly elegant and readable.  I mean, I have no idea who the average Joe is who submits his/her code into the answer pile for others to read through, but I liked mine overall.  

I like the IntelliJ IDEA IDE that they use (obviously their own) for the course. Its super intuitive despite having tons of menu options.  The course problems and projects are integrated into the IDE through a plug-in. Sometimes I was frustrated on a hard question when the test would just spit out WRONG instead of giving any useful information to help figure out what is going wrong. I learned that usually when that happened that meant the variable type I had chosen was too small for the data I generated.  An overflow error or something would have been nice.  Even if I didn't understand what that it at the beginning of the day, at least it would give me something to search to figure out what I did wrong rather than looking through comments for unhidden spoilers!

The other thing I did today was install a pomodoro timer.  I guess this is supposed to increase focus.  It made sure I took more breaks than I usually do when I sit down at my computer, which is definitely a plus.  It frustrated me at other times when it would ding and I was in the middle of trying to solve something.  I'm going to keep using it though because I do feel like I focused my efforts better today.  I'm not sure that's as much about the timer though as it is about having a much better organized and presented coursework than before.  I do get more fatigued though by only reading and coding rather than having videos, but I think I learn more.  I have a ton of notes just from today!