Barry Burd

Thank you, Randy. I have an online chapter (http://www.dummies.com/go/javafd9e) with instructions on installing and using Java and IntelliJ. My email is in the book if you need help with Eclipse and other IDEs. Most sections of the book end with "Try It Out" exercises, and my website (https://javafordummies.allmycode.com) has all the exercise solutions.

Hi Simon, The book has no advice for teaching. But personally, I always have plenty of advice. Of course, my advice consists only of my opinions. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Hi Dr Beginner, Have you managed to solve your problem yet? If not, can you confirm that you're using IntelliJ (or that you're not using IntelliJ)?

Hi Chantal, I'd like to write about all the advantages of reading my book. But in truth, no single work (my book, anyone else's book, web resources, or courses) can give you a strong foundation. You have to read lots and lots of different materials and write lots of practice code. It's also important to interact with professionals in the field. I was a very naive programmer until I started attending Java user group meetings. Some meetings take place online, but it's even better if you can attend gatherings in person. Even when there's a presentation, and you don't understand much in the presentation, it's good for you to hear the vocabulary and find out what Java developers are currently talking about. Java user groups are also great for networking.
So, my book can be one early step in learning Java. If you're interested in certification, don't forget about Jeanne Boyarsky's books. (Hi, Jeanne!)
Much luck with your pursuits, and let me know if you have any other questions.
--Barry

Hi Simon, In the first several chapters of the latest edition, the examples use simple class files and instance main methods.

void main() {    // Do things }

In later chapters, some examples use the traditional style, and others use simple class files and instance main methods.
I pepper the book with reminders that these are preview features.
As I wrote the book, I learned how tricky it is to introduce the traditional style after showing several examples of main methods in the simpler preview style. I didn't want to overwhelm readers with the concepts in public static void main(String[] args) all at once. I think I did a decent job with that task.
It's risky to write about preview features in a printed book, so I'm hoping they finalize these features soon.

Hi Matheus,
My advice is to make up lots of little problems for yourself to solve. Take examples that you find and think about ways to make changes. If you can make the changes easily, think of some more challenging things to try. If you get stuck, keep working for a little while, but don't let yourself get frustrated. The more code you write, the more you'll understand programming in Java.
 --Barry

Nod to CodeRanch - Yes!
By the way, I've tried using this code on two different computers with a few different microphones. It successfully recognizes G below middle C (~196), middle C (~261), F above middle C (~349), but it doesn't recognize A above middle C (440). The only change I made to the code was to change audioFrames to 8192 (a power of 2). Is there something in the code that makes 440 out of range?

I want to use the code that Jose Hidalgo posted for part of a demo at a Java conference in March. I hope I have permission to do so.

Thank you, Joe.

"Superposition of different possibilities" is a nice way of thinking about it. Imagine a calculation that's so large that it would take classical computers millennia to solve. In a quantum computer, all the possibilities could be represented at once by being superposed over one another. You can have one qubit whose possibilities are both 0 and 1 at the same time. So, ten qubits represent 2^10 = 1024 possibilities at the same time. With only ten qubits, you can be calculating on over 1000 possibilities. Imagine what you can do with 10,000 qubits!
The difficult part of quantum computing algorithms is getting the quantum computer to sift out the correct possibility among all 1000 of them or of all 2^10000 of them. That's where you encounter very cleverly conceived quantum computing algorithms. A quantum computing algorithm takes 2^10000 calculations and, somehow, filters out all the incorrect ones.
Unfortunately, quantum computing algorithms aren't easy to understand without lots of background or lots of help. That's why I wrote the book. (Well, actually, I wrote the book because I'm fascinated by the subject, but that's another story.)

Laptops won't support quantum key distribution. But two quantum computers (one at ABC company and the other at XYZ company) can agree on a private key and then relay the private key to their companies' classical computers.
There's also post-quantum cryptography -- schemes being developed and tested that are resistant to eavesdropping by agents with quantum computers.

Babies books or not, there are ways to understand complicated physics concepts (perhaps on a very shallow level) that don't involve a lot of technical background. I can explain some ideas about superposition and entanglement without doing any math. True, the listener will get the wrong ideas about some aspects of superposition and entanglement (many aspects, maybe) but they'll also get some general idea of what's going on and it might encourage them to learn more.

Hi Don,
A quantum simulator will work to simulate a small number of qubits. The one I commonly use simulates a quantum computer with 32 qubits. But 32 qubits is "nothing" compared to the number of qubits you need in order for a quantum computer to have advantages over classical computation. One estimate says that it takes a quantum computer with 10000 qubits to factor two large prime numbers and crack RSA encryption. Engineers and physicists believe that we'll have quantum computers with large numbers of qubits in a few years. But simulators can never run with large numbers of qubits. That's because the amount of information you can wield with a true quantum computer grows exponentially with the number of qubits. The amount of info in a simulator doesn't grow exponentially.
So simulators are good for doing proof-of-concept, but they won't be able to solve practical problems with quantum computing techniques. A practical program that a large quantum computer will be able to solve in minutes or seconds would take billions and billions of years to run on a simulator.
(Footnote: The Java Strange library is good stuff even though it runs only on a simulator for now.)

Thank you, Ahmed!

I've never read one of the "For Babies" books. I imagine that they have some value for some audience.