We live in an increasingly digitalised world, something that I didn’t want to embrace for a long time when I was younger, because I felt that it took a lot of the romance out of the world.

Recently though, I have taken a different view towards programming, realising that it could be something that plays to a lot of my strengths. I grew up bi-lingual and have always liked languages and writing; why should programming languages be any different. Coupled with that I studied art and design, so with programming I would be able to bring in my creative thinking. To top it all off, since I was young I have had an affinity and natural interest in analytics, problem solving and maths; points which also play to the strengths of a programmer.

It is one of, if not the most valuable skill to learn nowadays. And even if it is not as romantic as other options, it oozes creativity.

For this reason I have decided to start educating myself. I chose Java because it seems to be relatively easy to learn, while having a broad range of possibilities in terms of application. It is one of the most widely used languages, runs on almost anything and has a broad range of tools available. This book seemed like a good choice as it combines theory with practical tasks.

Which is where we get to the topic at hand. I have started to learn from this book and after reading all of the theoretical introduction I am now working through the book while actively using Java to work on the problems alongside. One thing I have just started to do is the following: once the Author has explained what he will write as his next program, I write my own version before consulting his.

To keep a personal record for myself and show you how I would approach these problems, I will be posting certain programs I write with his method alongside, keeping track of my progress.

I hope you enjoy it. If you have any advice it will be more than welcome.