I think anyone saying that he should quit because he doesn't feel motivated is being pretty harsh. I mean, if you're an absolute beginner, there's no doubt you're going to feel frustrated and unmotivated at times. The point is that if you're serious and you push yourself to learn, no matter how frustrating it gets, you pretty much got what it takes. At least finish the book and, if you still don't like it, THEN think about if programming is right for you.

I would actually target the book to blame. I don't know much about Java, but I doubt that any well-respected author in the Java community would publish anything under the "for dummies" series. Seriously, if you want to learn correctly, you'll seek out good resources that will teach you how to do things correctly. Learning from a real resource will actually teach you things in a competent way, and will help keep you interested in learning more about the subject.

I have to disagree with anyone saying "Give up its not for you" thats just bad advice for a beginner.

I've been programming for years on and off as a hobby using Assembly, C, C++, Visual Basic, very little Java and everyone goes through being unmotivated especially in the beginning because it looks like a TON to learn before you get to do anything cool like games.

I finally decided to clamp down and actually learn more then just the basics in programming and when I was going through the basics again with the latest language I've been learning I was terribly bored. I trudged through a few books and then started learning a graphics API. This is where things got fun for me. Granted there are still days (like today) where I have no desire to program but then there are days where I do it all day.

Here's what I would say to do:

First, find out what interests you in programming. Is it making games? If so download a game builder to play with, do some programming, play around with the game builder, you will soon start to see how the two relate and things get more interesting.

Second, even though some "For Dummies" books are decent I like to learn from college text books instead. I think they are better written in general and offer more exercises and cover more topics, although they are much more expensive.

Third, maybe try a language like Python that seems to be geared more towards game programming (I could be wrong but anything I've read on python talks about games). I have no experience other then reading about it but it comes highly recommended from a lot of people.

You know, another way to stay motivated is to look at programming from a different perspective. Do you like building things? Think of programming as trying to build something. When you design, you are being an architect. Once the design is done, you start building. If you like art, programming is like an art, too. All the possible things you can program are only limited by your imagination. If 30 years from now you decide you don't want to make games, you can make anything else you want. Most of the skills used to make games are used in many other applications as well.

Also, I agree that the book is to blame. Like Chrono said, it's better to probably get a text book because it covers more detail and it has more programming exercises. It may not be the most fun to read, and you'll probably still feel unmotivated at times, but at least you'll learn more about the language.

I did enjoy the C for dummies series and the game programming in C book. I hated the C++ for dummies but like others have stated, its good to get a variety of books. There are books I have that come highly recommended that I wouldn't recommend to anyone for learning purposes. It varys person to person.

To the OP, it may be easier to set mini goals for yourself. Right now I set a goal of one LazyFoo tutorial per day, maybe do half a chapter of a book per day, it may seem like trudging at first but I notice that once most people get to classes they start to have a lot of fun with programming because you really start to see the possibilities.