Learning Java - take nothing for granted.

The devil really is in the detail when it comes to learning Java, I realized this when I first attempted to code my first class years ago. And the reason I'm having a crack at Java (JSP/Servlets) is that I think I'm old enough... perhaps mature enough... to attempt a grasp on the kinds of minute protocols, courtesy, manners and ritual required to master this language.

I want to be a little miffed at my buddies for not mentioning these nuances; ever - but rather, I'm kinda impressed that the've managed to keep the secret of 'the stonecutters' from me for so long.

Because I appreciate case sensitivity, I was able to work it out. I'm sensitive to those cases, although for a long time, I was indiscriminate and careless with regard to the case. Now I am their bitch.

Despite this there are stylisticly, some things which I have been getting away with in my old ways, which are not appropriate when entering such a rich community as my colleagues. Rightly, I feel grotesque, hideous, a heathen.



Works only if your class has the method;

public int getId()
{
    return _id;
}

Not this method;

public int getID()
{
    return _id;
}

...because capitalisation in this way is not considered appropriate, or polite.

It's a fucking convention. Like taking off your shoes before entering a Japanese home. Like wearing your underpants underneath your trousers. They are the things we do to demonstrate our acknowledgement of years of agreed behaviour and practice.

I guess it just would have been handy if I knew in advance. Like, before I decided to take a shit in the potted palm.