Newbie looking for a nudge in the right direction

**Hm88** · December 19th, 2013, 09:07 AM

Hello folks, I am pretty new to Java programming. I've written two small simple programs. I am not fully aware of all of the capabilities of Java yet, so I am having a hard time planning the path I should take to complete my new project. I am basically building a planning program. Imagine a grocery store shelf that's 10 feet wide and 8 feet tall. I have limitations on where the shelves can be placed, and how many items can be placed on a shelf, but I have a huge variety of products from soft drinks, to toilet paper 4 packs to chips, etc. I am trying to write a program with a grid, where I can just drag and drop scale pictures of the products to develop the most efficient plan of placement for the list of products I have for each shelf. I'm just not sure of how to create a nice grid and these scale pictures that can be placed on this grid. All I am looking for is some direction so I know where to start my research. I would greatly appreciate any help.

**KevinWorkman** · December 19th, 2013, 09:47 AM

The honest answer to this question, and one you might not like very much, is that you might be biting off more than you can chew. What you've described involves quite a bit of custom painting and/or GUI code, which might not be obvious to a novice. It might be better to work through the basic tutorials and get some simpler animations under your belt before you try to tackle this project.

**Hm88** · December 19th, 2013, 10:01 AM

I appreciate the honesty, and I can agree it will be a bit difficult. I tend to find myself gravitating towards the more complicated projects, that way even if I fail I can learn a lot. I don't have a deadline for this, it's just sort of something in my free time, so I don't mind if it's a slow process if it's going to be packed full of learning.

**KevinWorkman** · December 19th, 2013, 10:21 AM

A common mistake novices make is trying to tackle bigger projects than they can handle, which just leads to frustration.

But if you really want to continue pursuing this project, the best thing to do is to break it down into really small pieces.

Your first step might be the model. Forget about the GUI for a second. Can you build a program that uses a grid internally to place certain objects? Maybe print the location of each object in the grid to the console window.

Or you could start with a more basic GUI. Can you draw a grid of randomly colored squares? Now can you combine those squares into rectangles or whatever other shape you want to place?

The key is to start with small pieces that you know how to do. What is the absolute smallest very next thing you know you have to do? Do it, and repeat the question to yourself. That's how larger projects are done.

**Hm88** · December 19th, 2013, 10:25 AM

That's all I needed, I do appreciate it.

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