Syntax and jargon

Throughout this book we will use plain English to discuss some fairly technical things. You will never be asked to read a technical explanation of a Java or Android concept that has not been previously explained in non-technical language.

So far, on a few occasions, I have asked that you accept a simplified explanation in order to offer a fuller explanation at a more appropriate time, like with classes and methods.

Having said that, the Java and Android communities are full of people who speak in technical terms, and to join in and learn from these communities you need to understand the terms they use. So, the approach this book takes is to learn a concept or appreciate an idea using entirely plain-speaking language, but, at the same time, introduce the jargon/technical term as part of the learning.

Java syntax is the way we put together the language elements of Java in order to produce code that works in the Dalvik virtual machine. The Java syntax is a combination of the words we use and the formation of those words into the sentence-like structures that are our code.

These Java "words" are many in number, but taken in small chunks are almost certainly easier to learn than any human spoken language. We call these words keywords.

I am confident that if you can read then you can learn Java because learning Java is much easier. What then separates someone who has finished an elementary Java course and an expert programmer? The exact same thing that separates a student of language and a master poet. Expertise in Java comes not in the number of Java keywords we know how to use but rather in the way we use them. Mastery of the language comes through practice, further study, and using the keywords more skillfully. Many consider programming an art as much as a science and there is probably some truth to this.