Lecture 1: Computers, Programming, Java and Linux

What You Will Learn Today

  1. Understand the structure and purpose of the course.
  2. Locate course-related resources for independent learning.
  3. Review concepts related to the programming process.
  4. Compare the features of Java and other programming languages.
  5. Describe how to create, compile and run a simple Java program.
  6. Compare the features of Linux and Windows operating systems (separate handout).

Course Overview

Course Goals

  1. Design, code, compile, run, test, debug, modify, and document programs
  2. Explain and use programming concepts, algorithms and processes
  3. Be prepared for further study of the software development aspects of computer science

Course Content

  1. Review basic C-like language features of Java including:
    applications, variables, types, operators, expressions, statements, comments, I/O, selection, repetition, functions, arrays, strings
  2. Use object-oriented features of Java including classes, inheritance, interfaces and polymorphism
  3. Use basic algorithms (recursion, searching and sorting) and data structures (stack, queue, list)
  4. Use Java applets, GUI components (AWT and Swing), two-dimensional graphics, event and exception handling
  5. Use database and networking features

Key Resources

Computers, Hardware and Software (Revision)

The Programming Process (Revision)

Features of Programming Languages (Revision)

Java Overview

A Simple Java Program

// This program prints two string literals.
public class Hello
{
   public static void main (String[] args)
   {
      System.out.println("Hello, world!");
      System.out.println("My name is your name.");
   }
}

Creating the Source Code

Compiling the Program

Running the Program

Hello, world!
My name is your name.

To Do After Class