Weekly Outcomes

At the end of each week, students should be able to do the following:

Week 1

Writing Computer Software

• Describe the steps involved in creating and running a Java program
• Describe the contents of source (.java) and class (.class) files
• Explain what happens (at a high level) when a Java program is compiled
• Explain what happens (at a high level) when a Java program is run
• Describe the difference between compilation and execution errors
• Explain why a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is required in order to run a Java program
• Describe how bytecode makes Java programs portable
• List the basic steps involved in software development

Primitive datatypes, Variables, Identifiers

• List the primitive types supported in Java: int, long, float, double, char, and boolean (tutorial)
• Define numeric literal and provide an example of one
• Define character literal and provide an example of one
• Select the most appropriate primitive type to store a given piece of data
• Use the assignment statement
• Describe what happens in memory when a primitive variable is declared
• Describe what happens in memory when an object identifier (reference) is declared
• Describe the differences between primitives and objects (reference variables)
• Define string literal and provide an example of one
• Graphically illustrate the difference between primitives and reference types with memory diagrams
• Demonstrate how an instance of a class is created (new operator)
• Use valid and meaningful identifiers that are consistent with Java naming conventions

Java Programming Basics

• Recognize code documentation in source code
• Demonstrate at least two forms of syntax for adding comments to source code
• Replace hard coded constants with named constants

Week 2

Standard Java Classes

• Demonstrate the use of String.substring()
• Demonstrate the use of String.length()
• Demonstrate the use of String.charAt()
• Use Oracle's Java documentation to ascertain if a method is part of a given class

Arithmetic expressions

• Demonstrate proper use of the following arithmetic operators: +, -, *, /, %
• Identify and avoid unintended integer division errors
• Distinguish between binary and unary operations
• Define operator precedence
• Interpret arithmetic expressions following operator precedence rules
• Define and apply typecasting
• Interpret code that makes use of compound assignment operations: *=, /=, +=, -=, and %=

Input/Output

• Use wrapper classes to perform type conversion, e.g., int num = Integer.parseInt("14");
• Explain the source of data associated with the system input buffer: System.in
• Perform standard/console input using the Scanner class
• Explain the destination for data sent to the system output buffer: System.out
• Perform standard/console output using the System.out.println method

Algorithms and Design

• Define the term algorithm
• Explain the motivation for doing design before coding
• Make use of variables and operations to perform calculations
• Construct and interpret pseudocode representing sequential, conditional, and looping structures
• Use flowcharts and pseudocode to describe algorithmic solutions to simple problems
• Trace a program to debug it without running it

Week 3

Selection statements

• Define the functionality of the following relational operators: <, <=, !=, ==, >=, >
• Use relational operators to control program flow
• Define the functionality of the following boolean operators: &&, ||, and !
• Use boolean and relational operators to construct meaningful boolean expressions
• Use boolean expressions to control program flow
• Describe the behavior of an if statement
• Describe the program flow through a series of nested if statements
• Use nested if statements to control program flow
• Define identifier scope and describe the implication to identifiers declared within an if block

Selection statements

• Use a switch statement to control program flow
• Rewrite a switch statement with one or more (potentially nested) if statements
• Explain the purpose of the case, break and default reserved words

Iteration statements

• Interpret code that makes use of the following looping constructs: while, do-while, and for
• Design and write code that makes use of the following looping constructs: while, do-while, and for
• Describe how the following constructs differ: while, do-while, and for
• Rewrite a given while loop into an equivalent for loop, and vice versa
• Select the most appropriate type of loop for a given problem

Week 4

More Standard Java Classes

• Define an Application Programming Interface (API)
• Use Oracle's Java documentation to ascertain the capabilities of a given standard java class
• Use the Javadoc page for the Math class to perform calculations involving the following mathematic operations:
  • Absolute value
  • Trigonometric functions (in degrees and radians)
  • pi - ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter
  • x^y
  • logarithmic functions
  • maximum/minimum of two numbers
  • Square root
• Generate random numbers

More Standard Java Classes

• Be familiar with methods from the Character class such as isDigit and toLowerCase
• Use methods from the String class such as isEmpty, substring, indexOf, etc...

Week 5

Java Packages

• Explain the purpose of a Java package
• List at least two packages that are part of the Java standard library
• Define the term fully qualified name
• Explain the purpose of the import statement

Object Oriented Design / Object Oriented Programming

• Define the following object oriented concepts:
  • Object types (Classes)
  • Class instances (Objects)
  • Instance variables (Attributes/Fields)
  • Instance behaviors/actions (Methods)
• Distinguish between classes and objects
• Describe how objects interact with one another by sending messages

Week 6

UML

• Correctly annotate and interpret methods (with arguments and return type) on a class diagram
• Generating class diagram from a verbal description of a class

Class creation basics

• Describe how an object differs from a primitive
• Describe how a class differs from a primitive type
• Define and use classes with multiple methods and data members (fields)
• Define and use value-returning and void methods
• Properly use visibility modifiers in defining methods and fields
• Define and use class constants
• Understand and apply accessor and mutator methods
• Distinguish between instance variables and local variables
• Define and use instance methods and instance variables (attributes/fields)
• Define and use methods that have primitive data types as arguments
• Understand the importance of information hiding and encapsulation
• Declare and use local variables
• Describe the role of the reserved word this
• Demonstrate use of this to disambiguate object fields from local variables
• Trace a program including calls to class methods in multiple classes
• Use the debugger to trace the execution of a multi-class program

Week 7

Defining your own classes

• Create and use constructor methods
• Define and use methods that have reference data types as arguments
• Define and use overloaded methods
• Call methods of the same class
• Avoid redundant code by calling one constructor from a different constructor
• Understand the implications of acting on an object to which there are multiple references
• Describe the role of the garbage collector
• Compare the equality of two different objects
• Swap the data in two different objects

Week 8

Design Techniques

• Use helper methods to avoid redundant code
• Adhere to the CS1011 coding standard
• Document each method using the Javadoc convention

Design Techniques

• Simplify complicated algorithms by encapsulating subordinate tasks
• Be familiar with various design approaches such as top-down, bottom-up, and case-based
• Use mechanisms in IntelliJ to refactor software

Week 9

Class Members

• Use class variables/attributes appropriately
• Use class methods appropriately

Arrays

• Use an array to store primitive and object types
• Create an array of a given size
• Loop through an array
• Pass an array as an argument

Enhanced for loop

• Design and write code that makes use of the enhanced for loop, a.k.a, the for-each loop

Week 10

ArrayLists

• Use an ArrayList<E> to store objects type E
• Use methods from the ArrayList<E> class such as isEmpty, get, set, add, remove, size, indexOf, and lastIndexOf
• Describe the advantages of an ArrayList<E> over an Array