CS 9G, "Java for Programmers"

    1 unit, self-paced, P/NP;
    offered fall and spring semesters.
    Restrictions on enrollment: CS 9G should be counted as a
    "computer science service course", with restrictions on credit 
    toward graduation as specified in the rules for such courses.

ABBREVIATED COURSE TITLE

    JAVA FOR PROGRMMERS

INSTRUCTOR IN CHARGE

    M. Clancy, Senior Lecturer

CATALOG DESCRIPTION

    Self-paced course in Java for students who already know how to program.  
    Applets; variables and computation; events and flow of control; 
    classes and objects; inheritance; GUI elements; applications;
    arrays, strings, files, and linked structures; exceptions; threads.

PREREQUISITE

    CS 9C or 9F or 61A (experience with object-oriented programming or with a
    C-based language)

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

    This course is organized similarly to other courses in the CS 9 series.
    Course activities include quizzes that test language details
    and programming assignments that provide practice with the language
    and associated programming techniques. 
    Topic coverage is approximately as follows:

	Segment 1: applets; variables and computation; events and flow of 
	control (chapters 1 through 8 of the Bell and Parr textbook).
	Quiz coverage:  Details about Java looping and testing constructs;
	the paint, repaint, init, and handleEvent methods of applets.
	Programming assignment:  Write a simple applet that accumulates input 
	values.
	
	Segment 2: classes and objects; inheritance; interfaces
	(chapters 9 through 11, 21, and part of chapter 28 in Bell and Parr).
	Quiz coverage:  Details of defining classes and interfaces and using 
	objects; public vs. private methods; static methods and data;
	inheritance. 
	Programming assignment:  Write a simulation program that displays
	coordinated movement of a variety of graphical objects.
	
	Segment 3: arrays, strings, and linked structures.
	(chapters 12 through 15, 22, and 24 in Bell and Parr).
	Quiz coverage:  Details about the use of built-in data structures
	and those supplied in Java libraries.
	Programming assignment:  Design two versions, one using a linked
	representation and one using an array or vector, of a class that
	represents a collection of graphic objects, and write a program
	that uses the class.
	
	Segment 4: files; exceptions; applications
	(chapters 16 through 19 and 23 in Bell and Parr).
	Quiz coverage:  Details of exception handling, particularly those
	that involve use of files and interaction with the user.
	Programming assignment:  Write an application whose flow of control
	mostly involves exception handling.
	
	Segment 5: threads
	(chapter 25 in Bell and Parr).
	Programming assignment:  Program the simulation of segment 2
	using threads.  (There is no quiz for this segment.)

    We hope, by incorporating early coverage of applets, to make this course
    suitable for students with widely varying previous programming experience.
    A student familiar with C but not with object-oriented programming,
    for example, will have an easy time with Java's syntax but be forced
    to learn about objects and methods immediately to program an applet.
    On the other hand, a student familiar with OOP in languages such
    as Scheme, though challenged by the syntax of Java, should find no problems
    conceptually with supplying the methods for an applet

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK

    *Java for Students* (second edition), Douglas Bell and Mike Parr,
    Prentice Hall Europe, 1999.

RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK

    *Java in a Nutshell* (second edition), David Flanagan,
    O'Reilly, 1997.