Weekly Outcomes

This is an old version of this course, from Fall 2013. A newer version is avaliable.

Optional Goodies

• IntelliJ
  • How to set up the editor so it's more like Word or Notepad when you click on line-endings. Just use Ctl-Right, Ctl-Left. Or ask me.
  • How to set up the default template
  • How to put line numbers: Menu: File-> Settings. Tree: Editor->Appearance. Checkbox: Show line numbers. (Thanks to Pat & Nate for showing me how to do this.)

Week 1

Primitive datatypes, Variables, Identifiers

• List the primitive types supported in Java: int, long, float, double, char, and boolean
  • Java tutorial on primitive types and literals that is really quite good. (Optional)
• 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)
• Demonstrate how an instance of a class is created (new operator)
• Watch this Fun video on references (pointers) from Stanford. (Optional.)
• Determine whether an identifier is valid or not.
• Use valid identifiers that are consistent with the naming convention. Having meaningful variable names is not as important on the exam. Abbreviations are OK. On the other hand, if you use greek or other non-latin variable names on the exam, I expect you to write one place where they will cause trouble, from this page or somewhere similar.

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

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 expresions following operator precedence rules
• Define and apply typecasting
• Interpret code that makes use of compound assignment operations: *=, /=, +=, -=, and %=

Week 2

Standard 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
• Demonstrate the use of JOptionPane.showMessageDialog
• Demonstrate the use of JOptionPane.showInputDialog

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

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 flowcharts representing sequential, conditional, and looping structures
• 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
• Use a switch statement to control program flow
• Dr. Hasker's 5 steps for writing a while loop. (Optional)
  • It's still there
  • Search for "How to Write a While Loop"
  • ... or "identify exit condition"
• 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

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
• Use parsing methods in wrapper classes to convert text representations of numbers into numeric format
• Use the toString method in wrapper classes to convert from numeric format into text representations
• 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...
• Generate random numbers
• Use System.out.printf to produce formatted output

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

Coding Standards

• Explain the purpose of a coding standard
• Be familiar with Oracle's coding conventions.

Week 6

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

UML

• Correctly annotate and interpret fields (name and type) on a class diagram
• Correctly annotate and interpret methods (with arguments and return type) on a class diagram
• Generating class diagram from a verbal description of a class
• Interpret UML sequence diagrams
• Use visibility modifiers to denote the visibility of a field or method

Class creation basics

• 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

Week 7

Defining your own classes

• Create and use class constructor methods
• Define and use methods that have reference data types as arguments
• Define and use overloaded methods
• Call methods of the same class
• Draw and explain memory diagrams that illustrate the instantiation of objects
• Describe the role of the garbage collector
• Compare the equality of two different objects
• Swap the data in two different objects
• 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

Week 8

Design Techniques

• Use helper methods to avoid redundant code
• Adhere to the MSOE Software Development Laboratory coding standard
• 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 Eclipse to refactor software

Week 9

Class Members

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

Arrays

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

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
• Design and write code that makes use of the enhanced for loop, a.k.a, the for-each loop
• Describe the advantages of an ArrayList<E> over an Array