Introduction to Computer Programming, using Java :: course home page
This course is an introduction to computer programming, using the Java
programming language. Due to the nature of Java, object-orientation is at
the heart of the course.
This course is currently being offered at McGill University's School of
Computer Science (SOCS) from January 4th to April 13th, 2005,
(every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 12:30-13:30).
Click here
for SOCS's official information about it.
Course content
Though the
syllabus
and
schedule
are subject to change, they are a very good indication of the course content.
Suggested reading
Due to the plethora of online documentation on the subject of computer
programming using Java, a physical textbook is not necessary, though if you
insist on using one, the course will follow
"Java Software Solutions
(Fourth Edition, Addison-Wesley)" by John Lewis and William Loftus.
If you do decide to buy this book, please take a look at the
errata.
Where to buy? A good, locally owned and operated, computer-book store in
Montreal is "Info Livres Plus"
- and the book costs 112$ with tax.
A really good online Java book is
A Little Book on Java,
by Fatima Ahmad and Prakash Panangaden. Read it!
While you're programming, it may be helpfull to refer to the
Java 2 Platform API.
For instance, I looked up the Scanner class when I couldn't
create a Scanner object using the static create
method, as the following statement in the official course book suggests:
Scanner scan = Scanner.create( System.in );
The API documentation says that it should be done as follows, using the
new operator and the Scanner constructor:
Scanner scan = new Scanner( System.in );
The reason for the difference is that the book is based on a "beta" version
of Java, one that is a touch older than the current 1.5 release.
What is Java?
Java is an object-oriented computer programming
language.
A computer
programming language is a standardized communication technique for
expressing instructions to a computer. It is a set of syntactic and semantic
rules used to define computer programs. A language enables a programmer to
precisely specify what data a computer will act upon, how these data will be
stored/transmitted, and precisely what actions to take under various
circumstances. A programming language can be thought of as a set of formal
specifications concerning syntax, vocabulary, and meaning.
Object-oriented
programming (OOP) is a computer programming paradigm in which a software
system is modeled as a set of objects that interact with each other.
Object-oriented programming emphasizes the following concepts:
objects, abstraction, encapsulation, polymorphism, inheritance, etc.
The Paradigm of OOP is essentially not that of programming, but one of
design, a system is designed by defining the objects that will exist in that
system, the code which actually does the work is irrelevant to the object,
or to the people using the object due to encapsulation.
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Getting started...
Recommended reading:
News
Effective April 17th:
The example code I showed in class throughout the term is
now available in the "Example code" section. The rest of the
lecture notes (chapter 9-11/12)
are now available, including the second half of chapter 8.
Assignments
Lecture notes
For your convenience, here are some lecture notes.
Example code
For your convenience, here is the example code used
throughout the term in class.
Midterm Exam
Please look at these midterm tips and study hard!
The Reality Check Quiz #2 & #3 and solutions are here.
Final Exam
Make sure you fully understand the "blocks" example code (pay attention to
"abstract classes"). Also make sure you understand the "recursion" example
code (pay special attention to the "throwing an exception" component of the
"recursion" example code).
The final exam is scheduled for April 20th at 9AM at the GYM.
For more info:
http://www.mcgill.ca/students-information/exam/
Free software awareness
I am an advocate of
free (as in freedom) software.
Since this is a computer programming course, it requires the use of
computers. For a computer to be useful, it needs software, most notably an
operating system (and in addition, for this course, a Java platform).
For an operating system, my recommendation depends on who
you are. If you are continuing in computer studies and you really want to
learn how computers work, I recommend
a version of the GNU system.
If you are brave, try
Gentoo; otherwise, if you prefer an
easy installation and a minimal learning curve, then I recommend Mandrake,
SuSE, and Ubuntu.
For a Java platform, you will most likely fall to the
shackles of the "Java Trap". If you are concerned, please read
the full article by
Richard Stallman about the Java Trap; here is a quote:
Sun's implementation of Java is non-free. Blackdown is also non-free; it is
an adaptation of Sun's proprietary code. The "standard" Java libraries are
non-free also. We do have free implementations of Java, such as the GNU Java
Compiler and GNU Classpath, but they don't support all the features yet. We
are still catching up.
If you develop a Java program on Sun's Java platform, you are liable to use
Sun-only features without even noticing. By the time you find this out, you
may have been using them for months, and redoing the work could take more
months. You might say, "It's too much work to start over." Then your program
will have fallen into the Java Trap; it will be unusable in the Free World.
If you're really interested in trying to avoid the Java Trap, please read
about GNU and the Java language.
GNU/Linux alternatives to proprietary software
If you're going to give a GNU/Linux distribution a try, the following lists
of software alternatives will help you greatly.
Please use the list at the following URL:
http://www.sot.com/en/migration/migration.shtml;
however, if that link is down, please use this
local copy.
The above list is based on the table at the following URL:
http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml;
however, if that link is down, please use this
local copy.
