Understanding Java
Understanding Java: Aims and Key Features
Books on Java abound. What makes this book different is that,
it not only provides a thorough introduction to the Java
programming language, but it also imparts an understanding of
the way things are in Java.
The overall aims of the book are to:
-
introduce the main aspects of programming;
-
explain the constructs available in the Java programming
language;
-
create an appropriate foundation for the construction of
large programs.
I have taught courses in Java at the University
of Durham since 1996. This book is based on material taught
to students that are new to programming.
Key features
-
This book teaches interface declarations at the same time
as class declarations.
-
It suggests that each class should have methods called
equals, hashCode, compareTo (if appropriate), toString and a
constructor for cloning.
-
The book demonstrates how to provide a Java program with
user interfaces involving components such as buttons,
textfields, dialog boxes and menus (using the Swing API).
-
It uses the Collections API in preference to teaching the
student to implement the code for the classic data structures.
-
The book uses the WWW pages that document the Core APIs.
-
Each chapter of the book ends with some useful tips for
programming and debugging, and a section entitled
`curios, controversies and cover-ups'.
-
As well as containing the code of all the examples that appear
in the book, the book's website at www.booksites.net/cornelius
contains the code of a WWW browser written in Java and a set of
suggested solutions to some of the exercises.
© 1998-2002
Barry Cornelius
Any queries about this page should be sent to
barry.cornelius@oucs.ox.ac.uk
.
This page was last updated on
18 March 2001.