I'm studying to obtain my Sun Java Programmer's certification. The exam is apparently much more difficult than the IBM or Microsoft exams, so I've been hitting the books pretty hard as of late.

The main book I've been using was written by the same people that penned Sun's exam. What's odd is that these people have a sense of humor, which is rare. Here's a passage that's made my studying time a bit more enjoyable:

"Contrary to popular belief, the exam creators are not evil or malicious. (I will admit, however, that while creating the exam, we experienced a giddy joy when one of us came up with a particularly tricky, er, clever question. High-fives all around!)"

A chapter later, I think I read probably the most confusing sentence I've ever stumbled upon:

"Once the subclass-outside-the-package inherits the protected member, that member (as inherited by the subclass) becomes private to any code outside the subclass, with the exception of subclasses of the subclass."

What's frightening is that now makes sense. Maybe it's time to schedule the exam.