These text books are only suggested.  Many people in the class will choose to not buy any book.  Many in my past classes say my websites are developed enough they do not need one.  I put these here for additional references.  Particularly if you plan on working with Java in the future or trying to pass some of their certifications you may purchase these books or others. 

Each book has its perspectives and advantages.

• Deitel & Deitel, Java: How to Program, Prentice Hall.
  • Deitel and Deitel are engineers that develop their own training courses.  Though, I probably should mention they are MIT engineers.
  • Their approach has quite deep examples
  • Their writing is very dense, but thorough
  • This book was my preferred reference for learning.  But you need to look it over quite a bit before purchasing.

When I first taught this course I used Deitel & Deitel.  The students ended up getting through the course reasonably well.  But I discovered the text is just somewhat too hard for the students I see in classes.  So I developed this web with the idea of stepping Deitel & Deitel down a notch to fill in more steps along the way.

Considering that this is a first course in Java, I will focus on developing the usual tools and syntax common to programming in just about any language.  They will be somewhat different in Java, but they will also be very similar to what they are in other languages. 

So initially we will talk a little about Java Applications and Applets.  Then we will study

• some background on GUIs

  • Java applications
  • Java applets

• control structures - decisions

  • error handling

• control structures - loops

• methods - functions

• arrays

• classes and objects

- 40% of your grade will be based on a final test. The test will be a mixture of multiple choice and short answer with some program debugging.

- 60% of your grade will be based on two homework assignments. All of the problems need be turned in individually.  On the other hand, you are expected to work together to develop your solutions.   Each homework assignment will be graded on a 100 point scale.

They will be due at midnight on the day they are due.

• If you turn a homework assignment in late within a day of the due date you will lose 5 points.
• If you turn it in late within 3 days of the due date you will lose 10 points.
• Anything turned in later than 3 days but still within a week will result in an automatic loss of 15 points.
• Anything more than a week late will result in an automatic loss of 25 points.
• You are always best off getting in portions of your homework that are well done as soon as you can.  For example, problems that are turned in on time will not be subject to late penalties.

You will want to e-mail your solutions to me by the date and time they are due. Any written discussion should be placed in a Word file and attached/inserted. You will also attach/insert things such as forms and projects to your e-mail.  You also need to make sure you get an acknowledgement that I have received your email and solutions.