<p>^^^I’m not saying you should memorize every method call available in the java library. I’m saying that if you’re in an intro java class and you can’t construct one of those silly Fish games by creating classes, methods, new objects, and writing basic code then you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.</p>
<p>Obviously if you know that the Sun library has already created an efficient method and you want to implement it–then search for it. But only do that after you’re positive you could’ve written the code from scratch if asked to. If you don’t know how to create that method yourself then you really didn’t do anything. You’re basically bypassing the work at the expense of understanding. </p>
<p>OOP doesn’t mean let’s use other java programmer’s work to circumvent actually learning. Only use methods you understand–that’s my point. Otherwise, review the text before moving on.</p>