CPSC 124: Introduction to Programming, Spring 2021

CPSC 124: Introduction to Programming

   Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
   Hobart and William Smith Colleges

   Spring 2021.

   Instructor:  David J. Eck  (eck@hws.edu)

   Syllabus:  http://math.hws.edu/eck/courses/cpsc124_s21.html

   Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:50–10:50 AM
       Second Floor of the Barn.

   Lab: Tuesday, 11:50–1:20 PM
       To meet remotely on Zoom.

Lab Instruction Sheets
Lab 1, January 26 Introduction to Java

Some Useful Links

Introduction to Programming Using Java, the textbook for the course.
PDF version of the textbook, good for reading on-screen.
A Style Guide for Java Programming.
Download Site for OpenJDK, where you can download installers for OpenJDK, for Mac OS or for Windows. Installing an OpenJDK will allow you to compile and run Java programs on the command line on your own computer. OpenJDK 15 is recommended for this course.
Download site for JavaFX, which we will use later in the course for GUI programming. To use JavaFX on your own computer, you will need an "SDK" appropriate for your system, probably "JavaFX Windows x64 SDK" for Windows or "JavaFX Mac OS X SDK" for Mac. Unless you are using an older version of Java, you should get the Latest Release (Version number 15).
Download Site for Eclipse, an integrated development environment for Java programming. The correct package for this course is "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers."

First Week: January 25, 27, and 29

Welcome to the course!

You should begin reading the textbook, which is available on-line at http://math.hws.edu/javanotes. Because the first lab is on Tuesday, we will move very quickly into the most basic aspects of Java programming, which are covered in Section 2.1 and Section 2.2. Some of the same information that you need will be provided in the lab, and the work for the lab is not due until next week, but it would be useful to start reading Chapter 2.

Aside from starting in on Java programming, during the first week of the semester, we will go over some of the introductory material from Chapter 1 of the textbook. We will cover only a part of Chapter 1 in class, but it is a good idea to read the entire chapter to get a preview of most of the topics that will be covered during the rest of the semester. However, you should not expect to fully understand everything in Chapter 1 at this time. The most important sections are Section 1.1 and Section 1.3. Those two section give a brief overview of how computers and Java actually work. Sections 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6 give short overviews of many of the topics that we will cover in the rest of the semester. It is recommended that you read them to orient yourself in the course, but they are not required reading.

The required reading for the first week also includes the course syllabus!

You will need to set up the Eclipse programming environment for use in this course. While this could be done during the first lab on Tuesday, it would be good to get started earlier. You can follow these instructions for Eclipse setup.

Finally, it would be a good idea to read the lab instructions before the lab on Tuesday.