Where to go from here in Java?

First off, im new to this forum so hello everyone! Iv only just started programming in java, but have done bits of HTML, and PHP before. Anyway...

I have been reading Java Programming from Problem analysis to program design, which is really good, but I have a few small problems. Firstlty, what is the scope of java? It seems to me that there is very little you can do with it, which is a shame as this is the basis for my MSc next year. I am very interested in programming games, or other programs with graphics in them, but bar the GUI components and Applets, how would I be able to create a program with non 'java like' graphics? What i mean by this is not the standard stuff that comes with java but something I could design myself?

Also I struggle a bit on the concepts of OOP and wondered if anyone has any good links which they could post to help me out?

Thanks in advance

Andy

Hmmm, Java and games? You might want to start here (http://community.java.net/games/) or here (http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/games/gdc2004.html).

shmoove

I am not sure either actually:

Firstlty, what is the scope of java? It seems to me that there is very little you can do with it, which is a shame as this is the basis for my MSc next year.

I am not sure what book you started out with, but the one i had seemed to have talked about being able to actually create full blown applications, and databasis. I never personally read the whole book, but i did scan once the table of contents for all the chapters, and subsections of the chapters, and well, it was rather suggestive of the extent to which one could really do some things.

I have been trying my hand at Visual C++ so that i can program in windows, and well, i simply do not know enough to know where the boundaries are between lets say something like Perl, Java, and Visual C++.

My ideal is to not only create some of my own applications, but to also make servers applications for the client side. I like what Apache is trying to do, but i have no idea of how to create a server application.

But in relation to your question, i am not sure what it is that yu want. If you are interested in game programming that has nothing to do with Web Developement per se, i would suggest trying your hands on Visual C++.

I suggest the following books:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764543881/qid=1094687519/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-2414559-1327842

The name of the book is Beginning Visual C++ 6. The author is Ivor Horton

The next book by the same author is on Java:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861000278/103-2414559-1327842

The Beginning Java book above is from 97, but I think there's a nr 2, so look for that one...

And why wouldnt you want to use the Java graphics classes? Im pretty sure you 'll have to know that stuff before you start making your own games.

The 'scope' of java is huge...