Friday is fast becoming poll day and as you can see this week turns out to be no different. After a few chats with a couple of Java regulars I'm interested to know more about you. Don't worry nothing too personal. All I want to know is how much experience you feel you have programming with Java.

Yesterday there was an introduction to object-oriented programming that dealt with the beginning theory of working with objects.

Today I thought you might fancy getting your hands dirty by looking at how to design and create an object in Java. After all you know what they say, all theory and no practice makes Jack a dull programmer.

Today sees the start of a series of articles on object-oriented programming. Learning about objects is fundamental to becoming a good Java programmer.

Before I start looking at how Java creates and uses objects it's best to introduce some theory behind object-oriented programming. You will learn what it means to create programs that are object-oriented, what objects are, their states and behaviors, and how they relate to data encapsulation.

I'm still hunting around looking for any cool Java applets that might be out there. Today I came across StarFractal on the CodingMagic website, an applet that displays the Mandelbrot set. You can keep zooming in and see the same patterns emerge time and time again.

There's a couple of other Java Applets such as a 2D maze game and 3D boxes that bounce around and can be viewed from different angles, but it's the crazy fractal images that really caught my eye.