Hi folks, I'm learning Java, and I know one of the big complaints about newbie programmers is that we make really long and involved methods that should be broken into several. Well here is one I wrote and is a perfect example. :-D.

public void buildBall(){

        /* sets the x and y value for the center of the canvas */
        double i = ((getWidth() / 2));
        double j = ((getHeight() / 2));

        /* randomizes the start speed of the ball */
        vy = 3.0;
        vx = rgen.nextDouble(1.0, 3.0);
        if (rgen.nextBoolean(.05)) vx = -vx;    

        /* creates the ball */
        GOval ball = new GOval(i,j,(2 *BALL_RADIUS),(2 * BALL_RADIUS));     
        ball.setFilled(true);
        ball.setFillColor(Color.RED);
        add(ball);


        /* animates the ball */ 
        while(true){
            i = (i + (vx* 2));
            j = (j + (vy* 2));  
            if (i > APPLICATION_WIDTH-(2 * BALL_RADIUS)){
                vx = -vx;       
            }

            if (j > APPLICATION_HEIGHT-(2 * BALL_RADIUS)){
                vy = -vy;
            }

            if (i < 0){
                vx = -vx;
            }

            if (j < 0){
                vy = -vy;
            }

            ball.move(vx + vx, vy + vy);
            pause(10);

            /* checks the edges of the ball to see if it hits an object */
            colider = getElementAt(i, j);

            if (colider == null){
                colider = getElementAt(i + (2*BALL_RADIUS), j); 
                }
            if (colider == null){
                colider = getElementAt(i + (2*BALL_RADIUS), j + (2*BALL_RADIUS));   
                }
            if (colider == null){
                colider = getElementAt(i, j + (2*BALL_RADIUS)); 
                }

            /* If the ball hits an object it reverses direction */
            if (colider != null){
                vy = -vy;


             /* removes bricks when hit but not the paddle */
                if (j < (getHeight() -(PADDLE_Y_OFFSET + PADDLE_HEIGHT))){
                remove(colider);
                }

            }

        }

You can see from the title of the method that I started with good intentions of "building the ball".

There are a few issues I ran up against:

The problem is that then I needed to move the ball, so I created that while loop. I don't see any other way to do that other than just keep it "true", so that means any other code I create below this loop won't happen. I didn't make the while loop a different function because I was using those variables i and j.

So I don't see how I can refactor beyond this loop.

So my main question is:

How would I pass the values of i and j to a new method: "animateBall" and how would I use ball.move(vx + vx, vy + vy); in that new method if ball has been declared in the buildBall method?

I understand this is probably a simple thing of better understanding variable scope and passing arguments, but I'm not quite there yet...