So, you’re stuck on a Java programming homework assignment? You’ve come to the right place to get help, but we aren’t here to do your homework for you. If you follow these guidelines, you’ll probably be able to at least get started by yourself, and when you get stuck, you’ll know the best way to ask a question about it.

Step 0- Calm down.
Do: Get up, go on a walk. If you’ve been staring at the same screen for 12 hours, your brain has turned to mush and you might as well be looking at Klingon. You won’t get anything done.
Don’t: Become frustrated and copy and paste random code you find on the internet, or try adding or removing lines at random just to see what happens without understanding any of it. That’s only going to make things much worse.
Do: Take breaks. I’m not saying check facebook every 5 minutes or play a round of solitaire every time you save. Work, but get away from the computer every once in a while! Work for 45 minutes, then take a 5 minute stroll around the house.

Example: I’ve been hacking away at this code for a few hours, and nothing seems to be sticking. So, I take a walk around the block, maybe eat something other than coffee and diet soda, and come back in an hour or two with fresh eyes. I might have even come up with a solution while I was gone (most of my best ideas happen in the shower).
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The gist:
Spoon-feeding is NOT helping. It robs a person of the process of solving a problem by working through it, which is not only fun but is also a crucial skill to learn. Problem solving is much harder to learn than memorizing syntax. Even if a person looks through the syntax you provide, you’ve taken away the chance to practice problem solving, which will only make it harder for the person to solve the next problem. Spoon-feeding only makes you look like a newbie. If you actually want to help, a better way to do so is by helping people work through the problems (instead of simply posting the solution)- suggest breaking the problem up into smaller steps, or ask where they’re stuck. Spoon-feeding can lead to moderator action.
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When you post a Java related question and your question has been answered, please mark your Thread as 'Solved'.

This is important to remember as it allows other members to see which threads require attention.

The result of this is your questions will be answered more quickly and it will also help you to identify threads of a similar nature that have already been solved.

Marking a thread as solved is quick and easy. ...

Welcome! If it's your first time here, please read and follow these rules and guidelines.

1. Properly format your posts. This includes using code tags to ensure that your code is easy to distinguish from the text, as well as proper usage of text sizes and/or capitalized words. See the forum FAQ if you are unsure on how to use BBCode formatting tags.

The most common tag you'll probably use is the syntax highlighting tag (aka code tag). To use this tag, type [highlight=Java] before your code segment, and [/highlight] after your code segment.
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I've written shorter versions of this many times, and rather than write it several times again in the future I thought I would centralize its location and just provide a link here. This article is for everyone who hasn't heard of the issues to do with cross posting.

To put it bluntly, cross-posting the same question to multiple forums can be considered poor forum etiquette. While some forums have strict rules against cross-posting, others are quite lenient about it, and the rules for each forum should be abided by should you wish your question to be answer politely and efficiently (JPF Crossposting Rules). Why is cross-posting considered poor etiquette? ...

It has come to our attention that there is a plethora of cross posting between our forum and other forums. Here are the rules for this forum:

1. Cross posting between different forums is allowed. This allows a wide base of discussion as different people frequent different forums. However, we strongly encourage you to follow the rules of other forums when it comes to cross posting (ex.: Java Forums.org dis-allows cross posting and Java Ranch asks that you list the sites you are cross posting on).

2. Please post links to the sites you have cross-posted your question(s) on. This allows our members to join in on the discussion without having to ask the same questions over again. See Java Ranch: Be forth right when cross posting to other sites for greater details on this subject.

3. Please, please perform a search either using the forum search engine or with your favorite search engine (google, bing, yahoo, etc.) before posting a new question. Chances are your question may have already been answered somewhere else and we would prefer not to waste members time by answering the same questions multiple times.

4. While cross posting is allowed between different forums, we do not allow cross posting in different forum categories. Please ask your question only once on this forum. If you don't, your posts will either be merged or deleted. Also, keep in mind that our members are not online 24/7 to answer your questions. Ask your questions in advance to ensure they get answered before any deadlines you have to meet (particularly for homework assignments!). A good rule of thumb is to ask ~24-48 hours in advance. ...