Java Textbook and Instructor's Kit for Highschool

[George W. Cherry]

The highschool in the town in which I live has just
asked me to teach a Java class. They also plan
to open the course to adults as part of their adult
education program. I am not familiar with intro-
ductory Java textbooks. I would be very grateful
to anyone's suggestion of a good introductory
Java textbook--that is supported by an effective
instructor's package (I haven't time for a great
deal of preparation of slides and other material).

George

 

[Tim Jowers]

The highschool in the town in which I live has just
asked me to teach a Java class. They also plan
to open the course to adults as part of their adult
education program. I am not familiar with intro-
ductory Java textbooks. I would be very grateful
to anyone's suggestion of a good introductory
Java textbook--that is supported by an effective
instructor's package (I haven't time for a great
deal of preparation of slides and other material).

George

George,

I TA'd with Savitch's intro to Java. Too bulky for HS IMHO. Also have
taught with Java 2 for the "World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart" Guide
Dori Smith which I recommend. Well, it is based on applets and web
pages. Has good examples and personally I think making web page stuff
is very rewarding and a great way to stimulate interest in computer
programming. So, maybe you can supplement with cmd line and Swing (Ha!
Ha!). 3 day into course at tech school.

Well, since the course is open to adults then the idea maybe to get a
job. Probably you'll then have to cover JSP (not covered by Savitch).
I did notes myself when teaching these courses. Lot's of good sources
on the Internet.

Definitely get them to check out Eclipse, javaglossary, and the free
textbooks on the web (TiJ, others). Also may want to check out Sun's
new Sun Java Creator Studio - seems to be aimed at the old VB market
of "occassional corporate developer". EoU but still power of Java.

Best luck,
TimJowers

 

[Hal Rosser]

The highschool in the town in which I live has just
asked me to teach a Java class. They also plan
to open the course to adults as part of their adult
education program. I am not familiar with intro-
ductory Java textbooks. I would be very grateful
to anyone's suggestion of a good introductory
Java textbook--that is supported by an effective
instructor's package (I haven't time for a great
deal of preparation of slides and other material).

George

I use Murach's Beginning Java 2 - at www.murach.com
They have good Instructor material for the book, too

 

[Thomas Weidenfeller]

The highschool in the town in which I live has just
asked me to teach a Java class. They also plan
to open the course to adults as part of their adult
education program. I am not familiar with intro-
ductory Java textbooks. I would be very grateful
to anyone's suggestion of a good introductory
Java textbook--that is supported by an effective
instructor's package (I haven't time for a great
deal of preparation of slides and other material).

www.bluej.org
Free IDE specifically designed for teaching.

www.bluej.org/help/textbook.html
List of textbooks for teaching java with bluej.

/Thomas

 

[Yakov]

Read my article on teaching kids Java:

http://www.sys-con.com/story/?storyid=44575


And here's the link to my ebook "Java for Kids, Parent and
Granparents" that can be used as a text book in schools:

http://www.smartdataprocessing.com/

Regards,
Yakov Fain

 

[George W. Cherry]

George,

I TA'd with Savitch's intro to Java. Too bulky for HS IMHO. Also have
taught with Java 2 for the "World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart" Guide
Dori Smith which I recommend. Well, it is based on applets and web
pages. Has good examples and personally I think making web page stuff
is very rewarding and a great way to stimulate interest in computer
programming. So, maybe you can supplement with cmd line and Swing (Ha!
Ha!). 3 day into course at tech school.

Well, since the course is open to adults then the idea maybe to get a
job.

I hope not. I think the adult education part is
for culture, fun, and discovery.

Probably you'll then have to cover JSP (not covered by Savitch).
I did notes myself when teaching these courses. Lot's of good sources
on the Internet.

Definitely get them to check out Eclipse, javaglossary, and the free
textbooks on the web (TiJ, others). Also may want to check out Sun's
new Sun Java Creator Studio - seems to be aimed at the old VB market
of "occassional corporate developer". EoU but still power of Java.

Thanks. I think that for their first sip of Java,
a text editor like TextPad might be the ticket.

George

 

[George W. Cherry]

Read my article on teaching kids Java:

http://www.sys-con.com/story/?storyid=44575

Thanks. BTW Yakov, why don't you use indention
to show the structure of a class, method, and so on?

George

 

[George W. Cherry]

I use Murach's Beginning Java 2 - at www.murach.com
They have good Instructor material for the book, too

Thanks, this may be the one.

George

 

[George W. Cherry]

www.bluej.org
Free IDE specifically designed for teaching.

I'm a little concerned that the IDE may distract
attention from Java itself. The integration of the
book with the IDE is a plus if I decide to use an
IDE (rather than a text editor like TextPad). The
feature that everything needed for the book is
on the CD is certainly attractive (except the SDK
is not 5.0).

George

 

[Thomas Weidenfeller]

I'm a little concerned that the IDE may distract
attention from Java itself.

I suggest you download BlueJ and check it out. Much better than
speculating about the nature of the IDE. It is not like the typical
monster IDEs.

/Thomas

 

[Chris Uppal]

I'm a little concerned that the IDE may distract
attention from Java itself.

You are wise to be sceptical of IDEs for beginners' use, but I think that BlueJ
is well worth a couple of hours of your time to check out before you make a
decision. It's /designed/ for teaching, and not in the trivial sense of having
lots of lots of "training wheels" for beginners either. Recommended (I'm not a
teacher, mind).

-- chris

 

[Gary Labowitz]

I'm a little concerned that the IDE may distract
attention from Java itself. The integration of the
book with the IDE is a plus if I decide to use an
IDE (rather than a text editor like TextPad). The
feature that everything needed for the book is
on the CD is certainly attractive (except the SDK
is not 5.0).

George

You might want to check out jGrasp. After explaining command line execution
of javac and java, and a good explanation of classpath, jGrasp can ease
programming and debugging. I still use the Schildt book, and spend a little
time pointing out the major errors. It still is pretty good since it has
large lists of methods of commonly used classes and several sections on
graphics programming. It's a shame it has some major errors which Schildt
seems unwilling or unable to fix; most glaring is his whole explanation of
"passing by reference" in Java, which, of course, doesn't exist. I spend a
whole class getting rid of that notion!

 

[Yakov]

Thanks. BTW Yakov, why don't you use indention
to show the structure of a class, method, and so on?

I do it in the book. The article was not formatted by me

 

[George W. Cherry]

I do it in the book. The article was not formatted by me

Aren't you embarrassed by it? You're the author.
It's rather off-putting, you know. I don't want to
sound harassing, but I thought I should bring it
to your attention.

 

[Rodney]

George,

I second the recommendations for BlueJ and JGrasp. I use both for
teaching Java programming to non-computer-science folks with no prior
programming experience.

Another effective item is Karel J. Robot:
<http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/KarelJava2ed/Karel++JavaEdition.html>
It works well with BlueJ:
<http://www.apcomputerscience.com/bluej/index.htm>

There are a many good texts, many with Instructor resources.

Check out the resource listings at SIGCSE (the ACM's Special Interest
Group on Computer Science Education):
<http://www.sigcse.org/topics/>

Have fun!

-- Rodney

http://www.oxy.edu/~rodney

 

[George W. Cherry]

George,

I second the recommendations for BlueJ and JGrasp. I use both for
teaching Java programming to non-computer-science folks with no prior
programming experience.

Thanks. I'm very close to choosing BlueJ.

Another effective item is Karel J. Robot:
<http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/KarelJava2ed/Karel++JavaEdition.html>

Thanks again. I've always liked Karel the Robot.

It works well with BlueJ:
<http://www.apcomputerscience.com/bluej/index.htm>

There are a many good texts, many with Instructor resources.

Check out the resource listings at SIGCSE (the ACM's Special Interest
Group on Computer Science Education):
<http://www.sigcse.org/topics/>

Have fun!

-- Rodney

http://www.oxy.edu/~rodney

My list of things I find obscene is very close to yours.

George
http://sdm.book.home.comcast.net/

 

[John]

Sounds like you're pretty close to making a decision, but I thought
I'd mention one other possibly:

http://fieldbird.com/JavaTools/

It's easy to learn and the kids might enjoy using it.

John

 

[Chris Riesbeck]

Thanks. I'm very close to choosing BlueJ.


Thanks again. I've always liked Karel the Robot.

then you might like Jeroo, though it's only an
initial step in learning some of Java (using objects,
but not defining classes, for example).

http://www.jeroo.org/

 

[Chris Uppal]

then you might like Jeroo, though it's only an
initial step in learning some of Java (using objects,
but not defining classes, for example).

http://www.jeroo.org/

Quite fun-looking. I find it disturbingly deficient in one respect.
Even in that limited environment, with actual live objects that can move
on-screen, it /still/ fails to provide the basic, and fundamentally important
IMO, experience of talking to live objects. You don't send messages to the
Jeroo people, you write code in an editor. The whole experience appears to be
code-centric rather than object-centric. A terrible missed opportunity.

(All based on the assumption that I didn't miss something big while looking
around the website)

-- chris