Non-Programmers

Title

Java Programming for Non-Programmers

Duration

5 days

Description

This course is an introduction to object oriented programming using the Java language for students with little or no programming experience. The course can be used as the first programming course for students beginning to prepare for a career in computer programming. The course may also be suitable for a programmer familiar with a procedural language who desires to learn object oriented programming by following a simple step-by-step approach. The language Java is used because of its growing importance in modern application development. The core syntax of Java is very similar to C and C++, so the student will receive a good grounding for subsequent study of these languages as well.

An important thrust of this course is to teach programming from an object oriented perspective. It is often difficult for programmers trained originally in a procedural language to start "thinking in objects". This course introduces object oriented concepts very early, and Java is developed in a way that leverages its object orientation. A major case study is used to illustrate object oriented programming techniques, including the initial analysis and design.

The course includes a preliminary chapter that introduces computers from the perspective of programming, covering the essentials of the von Neumann computer architecture and stored programs. The special nature of Java is explored. The course then introduces simple hands-on programming using Java to do simple input, computation and output. The Java data types are covered, and simple if tests and loops are covered. At this point the object oriented features of Java are introduced, and all the remaining treatment of Java follows an object oriented perspective. The course shows how to develop algorithms, present them as flowcharts or pseudo-code, and to verify them using-hand tracing. Algorithms are always implemented as methods of Java classes. There are many programming examples and exercises. The course can be run on any Java development environment, including Microsoft’s Visual J++.

Learning Objectives

	Learn the basic principles of object oriented programming
	Gain an understanding of the fundamental concepts of computers required for programming
	Learn how to develop, specify and verify algorithms
	Learn the essentials of the Java programming language
	Acquire the skills needed to design, code and debug computer programs in the Java language

Prerequisites

Good general problem solving skills and user experience on a PC

Topics

Introduction to Computers

	Input, computation and output
	CPU and memory
	Binary and hex numbers
	Stored programs
	Machine language
	Programming a simple computer in machine language
	Assembly language
	Compilers and high level languages
	Interpreters

What is Java?

	Object-orientation
	Java language
	Java virtual machine
	Java libraries
	World Wide Web and Java
	Java as a First programming language

First Java programs

	Hello, world
	Program structure
	Output in Java
	Variables and expressions
	Calculations using Java
	Classes and objects
	An input wrapper class
	Packages

Data types and operators

	Strong typing
	Integer data types
	Floating point
	Conversions between types
	Arithmetic operators
	Doing math in Java

Logical and bit operations

	Boolean
	Logical and relational operators
	If tests
	Bit-wise operators
	Shifting and masking

Loops and structured programming

	While loops
	Quitting infinite loops
	Curly braces and indenting
	Sentinels and counters
	For loops
	Loops and if tests together
	Nested if statements
	Structured programming

Introduction to objects

	Modeling
	Reusable software components
	Encapsulation
	Abstraction
	Objects and classes
	Finding objects
	Electronic commerce case study

Objects and classes

	Structured data
	Classes
	References
	Assignment of objects
	Objects and classes
	Initialization
	Garbage collection

Characters and strings

	Char data type
	String class
	String input and output
	String methods

Modular programming

	Monolithic programs
	Static variables and methods
	Functional modularity
	Object modularity
	Top-down and bottom-Up development
	Pass-by-Value and pass-By-Reference
	Nested classes

Arrays

	One dimensional arrays
	Subscripts
	Initializing arrays
	Arrays and loops
	Copy and assignment
	Arrays of objects
	Nested classes
	Multidimensional arrays

Algorithms and problem solving

	Understanding a Problem
	Specifying data structures
	Pseudo-code
	Designing an algorithm
	Divide and conquer
	Hand-tracing
	Searching
	Sorting

Control structures and exceptions