Easy Java Simulations

[Snookerfly Johnson]

So I'm in the process of trying to be allowed to continue teaching. I have to take physics classes (Which are not offered at the graduate level except through colleges that want you to pay $800/credit. Classes at WPI run at roughly 4 credits apiece for physics... I need twelve credits at least. Long story short, I've put it off and have had to get a waiver from the state to extend my license. It will run out in 2 years, so I need credits now.

So I've started driving an hour out to Chicopee MA once a week for a 3 hour class that also meets virtually on Monday nights. It is the second best decision that I have ever made about my education. Go CUSE! The first class I took was in Quantum Mechanics. The second in Special Relativity. And now this one is in programming java to run easy physics simulations.

The first thing I've found is that the writers of java tutorials typically know too much about java to write decent tutorials. 3 out of 4 that I have walked through in the manual did not give key instructions to compile them correctly and I had to have my professor walk through them and find the bugs.

The second thing I've found is that finding the bugs has really helped me to understand the easy java simulation program so much better. I have wondered if the tutorials are meant to come "bugged" so that you will have to play around with the console/properties of the simulation and thereby get better at it. That's what I would do if I were writing the handbook.