I can understand what your saying, and yes learning from a book can be tedious and boring
at times, but probably does give you more information about a subject and in greater detail.
Like said previously, there is nothing wrong with what you are learning. You are still
learning
how to program - and that doesn't matter if your using Java, C, C++ or Visual Basic. All
languages have a similar structure and learning the bare bones of it - even with non-standard
syntax, is still enforcing how a class is made, how a method is created and invoked, how an
instance of a class is used etc.
What myself and others have suggested is that after you finish the course, you
will have to start
learning standard Java syntax.
I believe ACM does not read input like this:
int number = input.nextInt();
Where input as an instance of class Scanner and nextInt() is a standard
Java console input method for integers.
Having said all this, do not feel discouraged from what you are learning. Like I
said before, you will have a better understanding of what the standard syntax is
when you do learn it, because you can relate to what the course taught you.
Keep working hard and good luck!
Wishes Ada xx