Need Help with class assignment(s).(horrible teacher)(need guidance)

I'm currently taking a programming class and i want to go into programming as a major. But my teacher is horrible and i cant learn anything from her. for the most part i do ok. but shes going way to fast now that we started java. her method of teaching is "look it up and learn yourself, now heres some assignments"
please help me with this assignment. just point me in the right direction? or contact me privately if your really feeling nice!



the assignment:
Select a favorite book that you have read recently. Program an applet to write the title, author, and copyright date on different lines using decreasing text sizes. Title will be in the largest font, copyright in the smallest. Use color changes from one line to the next. Code must include a block header and line comments, and be highly documented. Include a picture of the cover of the book, appropriately placed and resized. Attach Word document with source code, print screen of successfully running program, and a 1 paragraph written summary (using vocabulary words) of concepts learned in this assignment.

the problem is she doesn't tell how to do this? And i don't know ware to start?

What parts of the assignment are you having problems with?
Make a list of what the code needs to do and then work on them one by one.
What is the first step?

Is this program to use Swing components? Do you know how to add components to a container. Do you know how to override methods in components?

See this tutorial for how to do drawing:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutor...ting/index.html

see that's the thing, that's what i mean when I say shes a horrible teacher. I don't know if i need to use swing or not. (as well as i barley understand swing.) and no i don't know how to add components to a container. Nor do i know how to override methods?

drawing?

I would love someone to just explain these things to me! She doesn't do that. I have heard these words tossed around before but she never told us what they meant or what they are?

That's a lot of stuff to learn. Too much for here.

Start with the tutorial:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutor...lybigindex.html
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/index.html

so im not just stupid? and being expected to know how to do that our first week is insane? please tell me I'm not insane? She thinks the whole class is a java expert just because 2 or 3 people already know java. I feel so intimidated and I feel like i should quit because I'm not smart enough.

That's a lot to understand for the first week.

yea and we are starting week 3 and i dont even understand this. i feel like im stooping so low as to ask for help. but i have been trying to figure this one out for a few days now.

im sure i know those things, but just know the right way or exactly how to explain them, because i tought myself everything.

but how would you change the text size and font and color?(on each line)

You're skipping over the hardest part and asking about something really trivial.

The Graphics class has methods to control how something is drawn.

Well I know that now. but it's my teachers fault. im just going to try and spend every waking moment of my life learning through another source (like the ones you gave me) I'm obviously not going to learn anything from her.

so im starting fresh and im using the tutorial you linked me to. im at this part:


class BicycleDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {

// Create two different
// Bicycle objects
Bicycle bike1 = new Bicycle();
Bicycle bike2 = new Bicycle();

// Invoke methods on
// those objects
bike1.changeCadence(50);
bike1.speedUp(10);
bike1.changeGear(2);
bike1.printStates();

bike2.changeCadence(50);
bike2.speedUp(10);
bike2.changeGear(2);
bike2.changeCadence(40);
bike2.speedUp(10);
bike2.changeGear(3);
bike2.printStates();
}
}


}





but the code doesn't work? isn't Bicycle undefined or something?

never mind i got it. i needed to make the bicycle class in the main. see i didn't know you could do that. :/

Cross posted (and locked) at java-forums.org

db

Instead of wasting time whining and blaming the lecturer, perhaps it would be much easier and more appropriate to convey your difficulties learning programming languages in her class by making an appointment with her, then tell her your problems.

Sometimes you may encounter lecturers who tend to make assumptions like the students in the class may have some basic programming skills in advance. So they would just expect all students to coop up the language syntax by themselves. So, if you really cannot coop with the approach she is using to teach Java programming, you must act fast, ask questions until her explanations make things clear to you.

But on the other hand, rather than relying on the lectures delivered by your lecturers or instructors, you should also have some initiative to look up and go through basic tutorials from various sources such as books from library, online tutorials, notes from senior students and so on.

If you constantly and rapidly reading up articles, tutorials and books on Java programming, you may potentially master the language itself even much faster and more advanced than your class progress.

I remembered the time when I was still a student in my 2nd year computer science course, I had read the java programming complete reference series page by page, cross checking doubted parts with other references, and finally found myself way ahead of the class progress, and was able to code with APIs that were not even covered by the course syllabus. The funny thing is, when I asked my lecturer questions on some I/O API to understand how things work, the lecturer could not even answer my questions and I had to google online to find out the answers myself.

So, from this you can see that it is all about you yourself as the learner/apprentice. The lecturers/instructors/tutors are merely facilitators to help you progress and master the knowledge covered in the class.