Why the excessively metaphorical approach to teaching java?
Why couldn't Java textbooks or lecture notes simply be literal and just tell me what certain Java keywords do, instead of resorting to all sorts of these silly metaphors?
It's really, really, really, really frustrating for me, a non-IT student to learn Java because of these godforsakenly complicated metaphors only the ones who come up with it can understand right away.
(google "abstract class" and "interface" for example).
The metaphors are there specifically for people like you. As a non programmer you don't already know what a class, interface, abstract method, class method, abstract class, virtual method, etc are. If I say to you "An abstract method is a virtual or dynamic method that has no implementation in the class where it is declared." do you understand exactly what I mean? Explaining them in terms of metaphors makes them easier to understand and learn.
If you are having trouble understanding the the metaphors in the particular books you are reading I would suggest trying different books. Different authors will use different metaphors.
Portlet Encode NameSpace: How to Encode a Portal NameSpace
