Introduction to Computer Science - Java is a first year computer science course designed to teach the basic concepts of computer science and Object Oriented Programming. A basic explanation of how a computer is built and runs is given. Details of the syntax of the Java programming language including all structures and operators are taught. Strings and several standard packages are also covered including Swing. The course also covers the fundamentals of structured programming, functional programming, and object oriented programming design. Reading and writing to files are taught. Abstract classes and interfaces are also taught and their benefits explored. Different class relationships are covered, including inheritance and composition. Class diagramming and software design are introduced. Method writing, sorting algorithms and recursion are strongly emphasized. There is an extensive accompanying lab which includes many serious projects and utilizes all subjects covered with practical examples.

1. Introduction to Computers and the Internet
2. Introduction to Java Applications
3. Introduction to Java Applets
4. Control Structures in Java
5. Methods
6. Recursion
7. Arrays
8. Strings
9. Object Oriented Programming

On-line textbook I am writing

• What is an instruction?   What is a variable?
• How can my program communicate with a person?
• How do I alternate what my program does?   Separating program flow.
• Repeating the same action more than once.
• Let's do some algebra in my program.
• More ways to alternate program flow .
• More ways to repeate actions .
• What if I need to do the same actions but with different data? Or what if I want to do the same action in different parts of my program?
• Fancy stuff using methods - recursion
• Let's create a whole set of variables.
• Step into the next dimension.
• Let's do a search on our array.
• Don't you want everything in order?.
• Let's find what we are looking for really fast.
• A closer look at Strings or, How can I do stuff to Strings like check if two Strings are equal?.
• How can I read input from a file on disk?
• O.K., now how can I write to a file?
• Let me make my own class already!
• Now for some more details about classes.
• Can I make a class which I intend never to instantiate?

Homework assignments

A well written C++ Tutorial

Quotes about software writing

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