Rogers Cadenhead thinks my idea of avoiding main methods when teaching Java might be a bad idea:

Beginners ought to be shown that they can accomplish something with the language before the subject of object-oriented programming is introduced, which often confuses the bejabbers out of people the first time they are exposed to it.

After two minutes investigation, I discovered Rogers co-wrote one of the books I originally learned Java from, so perhaps I should listen. :)

Perhaps it's a difference of situation, though. I find that objects are a lot easier to demonstrate than to describe - in the classes when I just read out the OO stuff from the foils, everyone shrugs and looks bemused. Then I sit down and show them, and it all becomes a lot clearer. The learning environment thingy might exacerbate the “telling” problem, while making the “showing” thing a lot easier.