Peter Drake, he/him, LFHCfS 🔥 @peterdrake@social.cleverlibre.org

Following an ill-conceived rebranding, @JLo@twitter.com will henceforth be known as "Jenny from the Blockchain".

.@TheDoubleclicks@twitter.com All I'm saying is that at your next show you could arrange all of your T-shirts, CDs, etc. in to a binary merch tree.

@freemo Another issue is that some techniques (e.g., making fields private and having public getters and setters) only pay off for larger programs. I strive to introduce things just at the point where they are obviously useful.

That said, maybe this is a golden opportunity to introduce exceptions...

@freemo (1) "really isn't a difficult topic" is relative. It's good Java practice to never put anything in the default package, but they certainly can't handle that when they're still figuring out what an object is. (Don't worry, they learn about exceptions before they graduate.) Choosing the right time to introduce things, especially when there's a wide range of levels of preparation in a class, is always a struggle.

(2) Student limitations aside, are exceptions the best choice? People on Twitter have also suggested an enum, an Optional, constants, or the empty String to avoid having a null lying around. What's the cleanest way to go?

When the syllables fly
as a haiku goes by
that's a mora

I'm writing a Java method for a board game that should indicate if a move is legal and, if not, why. If exceptions are too much machinery for my students, is it reasonable to call it reasonForIllegality and have it return a String, null if it's legal?

OF COURSE Mannix's redistricting measure has a catch. http://www.wweek.com/news/2018/11/11/with-the-election-past-redistricting-is-next-kevin-mannix-has-a-ballot-measure-for-that/

Agonized between buying books at the beloved local @Powells@twitter.com or giving in to the sin of convenience and shopping @amazon@twitter.com. Best of both worlds: @Powells@twitter.com ships. Surprisingly, almost everything was also cheaper there.

Arboretum is clever and calmly pretty. https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140934/arboretum