605.201: Introduction to Programming Using Java, Summer 1999

Note: Class on August 17th has been cancelled, however, the final exam is still on August 24th.

I will hold an optional review session on Monday, August 23rd at 5:00pm in room K-3. I'll be there to answer questions and do sample problems; attendance on the 23rd is strictly optional.

Lecturer:

Paul McNamee

Textbooks:

• Harvey Deitel and Paul Deitel, Java How to Program (2nd edition), Prentice Hall, 1998. Required.
  The text at: amazon.com, Barnes and Noble
  The source code from the text is available on-line in the 201/JHTP2 directory.
• I did not order a secondary text for this class. Throughout the semester I will mention books that might be useful to further your programming skills and knowledge of Java. Some students find having an additional text(s) helpful when learning a programming language. Feel free to explore this list of references (in progress) or the holdings of the Gibson library.

Course Times and Location:

• Lecture: Tuesday, 4:30 - 7:35pm, Room K-24.
• I am also free to meeting with students by appointment.

Course Overview

The chief objective of this course is to allow students without a background in computer programming to become proficient programmers through learning the Java programming language. Topics will include syntax, data types, iteration, conditional expressions, arrays, references, methods, and exception handling. In addition, unique aspects of programming with Java will be discussed including object-oriented methods, the syntax for classes and inheritance, Java package APIs. Since this is an introductory course, several non-Java-specific topics will be included such as basic software engineering and debugging techniques. If time allows, some time may be spent on topics such as graphical programming and GUIs. Students with a more extensive background in computer programming who wish to learn Java and other Web topics would be better served taking 605.481: Distributed Development on the World Wide Web. Students interested in a more rigourous treatment of object-oriented programming techniques should consider 605.404: Object-Oriented Programming with C++.

Schedule of Topics

Date		Topic	Lecture Notes	Assignment	Examples, Handouts
June	8	Introduction to Programming, Java	course-outline.ps lecture1.ps	hw0.ps
June	15	Conditional Expressions, Looping	lecture2.ps	hw1.ps	DropObject.java ReadInt.java
June	22	Methods, Variable Scoping, Math API	lecture3.ps	hw2.ps
June	29	Arrays, Memory Management, String API	lecture4.ps	hw3.ps
July	6	Object-Oriented Programming I	lecture5.ps	hw4.ps	Places.java
July	13	Midterm Exam
July	20	Object-Oriented Programming II	lecture6.ps	hw5.ps	IntegerSet.java SearchEngine.java
July	27	Graphical Programming	lecture7.ps	hw6.ps	PieChart.java PieChart.html
August	3	Graphical User Interfaces	lecture8.ps	hw7.ps	Scribble.java Scribble.html McTofu.java McTofu.html Miner.java Miner.html
August	10	Exceptions, Basic Input and Output	lecture9.ps	hw8.ps	DetectClicks.java DivideByZeroException.java DivideByZeroTest.java DivideByZeroTest.html DumpFile.java DumpFile.html Places.java FileAppender.java
August	17	Class Cancelled (Data Structures Overview)	lecture10.ps		StackExample.java Primes.java BinarySearch.java Library.java Book.java VectorOfBooks.java SortStrings.java
August	24	Stacks and Vectors, Final Exam

Grading Policy

Grades will be based on programming assignments (60%) and on two exams (40%). Students may use computers at home or work for the homework assignments, however more support will be available for students using the University's UNIX system. Homework assignments will be given out approximately weekly and should take between three and six hours to complete.

Academic Integrity

Work for this class is expected to be the result of individual effort. Unless explicitly prohibited, it is perfectly acceptable to make use of published examples and code in the literature with attribution. Furthermore, while it is permissible to discuss the general nature of lecture material and assignments with your peers, this does not extend to revealing solutions or source code. Students are expected to uphold the academic integrity of the university. Students using without reference, published material or copying the work (e.g. source code) of another individual will receive a zero on the assignment and the matter will be referred to the dean. Contact me if you have any questions, no matter how slight, about this policy or questions about a particular assignment.

A small collection of commonly asked questions in 605.201 is kept here.

On-line Java resources

• Marty Hall's Java Page. Marty is a faculty member in the part-time program and the author of a leading Java/Web book, Core Web Programming.
• JavaSoft, the division of Sun Microsystems that developed the Java Language.
  You can download a free version of Java here.
• Peter van der Linden's Java Programmer's FAQ
• Roedy Green's Java Glossary
• The Yahoo: Java Programming Page.
• Newsgroup: comp.lang.java.programmer
• The Microsoft Visual J++ site.
• The Borland (Inprise) JBuilder site.
• Symantec's Visual Cafe for Java
• Supercede offers a Java development environment with a native code compiler.
• The home page for the Java Report.
• If you are reading this page on the JHU UNIX system, you may view the JDK documentation for all of the built-in classes locally. Otherwise you may view it directly from JavaSoft.
• Having trouble reading my handouts/homeworks? You probably need a PostScript viewer.

JHU on-line resources

• Students close to the Homewood campus might find the Milton S. Eisenhower library a good source for information. The library's electronic card catalog (JANUS) is available on-line via telnet. See the web page at http://milton.mse.jhu.edu:8001/janus/janust.html.
• The Gibson library which is located here on the APL campus has an interface to their on-line catalog.
• CGI interface to the UNIX man pages is on-line.
• The Johns Hopkins University's Computer Science Department.
• The Whiting school's part-time program in Computer Science home page.