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Course outline: Java Programming

Purpose: to introduce all the fundamental concepts of the Java language. The course teaches all the basic features and also more advanced concepts such as multithreading, inheritance, polymorphism and interfaces. Optional appendices, time permitting, cover topics such as Applet programming. This course is designed to equip the delegate to begin Java development on completion.

Prerequisites: the course assumes no previous Java or object-oriented experience, but does assume a programming background. Previous experience of another object-oriented language such as C++ will ease the learning experience considerably.

Course contents:

Introduction

What is Java?
Compilation vs interpretation
Applications, Applets and Servlets
Execution model
Portability, security
Multithreading
Distributed features
Java versions

The Java Programming Environment

A first program
Compiling and running
Java Development Kit
CLASSPATH
Packages
Standard Java packages
Java documentation
JAR files

Language Fundamentals

Source code basics
Primitive data types
Data declarations
Expressions
Statements
Flow control
Methods and Blocks
Visibility, Modifiers and Return Types
Calling Methods
Method Overloading
Naming Conventions
Comments

Working with Objects

What are Objects and Classes?

Declaring and Creating Objects

String class

StringBuffer class

toString() method

Object Constructors

Objects and Methods

Copying Objects

Comparing Objects

Wrapper Classes

null reference

Garbage Collection

Writing Classes

Classes and Objects

Object-Oriented Modelling

Defining a Class

Object Constructors

Object Initialisation

this Reference

Copy Constructor

Destroying Objects

Class Data & Methods

Association and Delegation

Arrays

Declaring and Creating Arrays
Initialising Arrays
Accessing Array Elements
Arrays of Objects
Arrays & Methods
Multi-Dimensional Arrays

Inheritance

What is Inheritance?

Method Inheritance

Method Overriding

Polymorphism

Accessing SuperClasses

Scope Modifiers

Object Hierarchy

The Object Class

instanceof Operator

final Modifier

Exception Handling

Dealing with Runtime Errors

Exceptions

Exception Hierarchy

Catching Exceptions

try-catch Statements

Exception Class

catch Chains

finally Block

Propagating Exceptions

User-Defined Exceptions

Throwing Exceptions

Exception Handling Techniques

Abstract Classes and Interfaces

Abstraction

The abstract Modifier

Multiple Inheritance

Interfaces

Cloning Objects

Programming to an Interface

Nested Classes

Nesting Classes
Member Classes
Local Classes
Anonymous Classes

Object Collections

Java 1.1 Collection Types

Vector Class

Enumeration interface

Hashtable Interface

Java 1.2 Collections

List Collections

Iterator Interface

Set Collections

Map Collections

Collections Class

Collections and Method Return Values

I/O Streams

Streams, Readers & Writers

InputStream Class Hierarchy

Standard streams

I/O Exceptions

Handling Files

File & Directory Attributes

Formatted I/O

Internationalisation

Data Streams

Text Processing

Process I/O

Multithreading

What is a Thread?

Benefits of Multithreading

Java Threads

Thread States

Runnable Interface

Stopping a Thread

Synchronisation

Object Locks

Thread Co-ordination

Producer / Consumer Pattern

Performance and Deadlocks

Thread Groups and Priorities

Appendices

Bibliography

The Java Applet

AWT (Abstract Windowing Toolkit)

AWT Techniques

Glossary