Variations on a Theme: Java: A Playful Introduction

This book is a playful introduction to programming with Java. It is aimed at readers who have little or no programming knowledge. Programming is similar to playing the piano: you don't learn it by watching or listening, you have to practice a lot. That's why the main focus of this book is on the numerous exercises and projects. In the first chapter we take our first programming steps with Karel. We get to know methods, loops, conditions and our first software engineering principles. Most importantly, the top-down approach is introduced for the first time. The second chapter introduces simple graphics programming, the classes of the ACM library are introduced and we learn to use objects. This is followed by an introduction to console programs. We get to know variables and operators, conditions and loops are deepened, boolean variables are introduced and the 'loop and a half' is shown. In the next chapter the top-down approach is revisited and methods are put on a new foundation. It also shows how animations and mouse events work, and the random numbers are used for the first time. Chapter five deals with strings and tokenizers, and introduces classes. The UI chapter introduces the basics of graphical user interfaces and concretizes the concept of instance variables. The basics of object orientation, inheritance and composition will be discussed in detail in the following chapter and will be deepened by numerous examples. Arrays and simple image processing are also introduced. Besides, KeyEvents are also addressed. In the last chapter files and error handling, an introduction to lists and maps follows, and we conclude with interfaces and the term polymorphism.

About the Author :
Since 2011, the author has been Professor of Internet Programming and Multimedia Applications in the Media Engineering program at the Nuremberg Institute of Technology. From 2003 to 2010 he was Professor of Software Engineering and Multimedia Applications at the University of Applied Sciences Hof, and from 2010 to 2011 Professor of Media and Computing at HTW Berlin. He received his doctorate in 1996 from the University of Iowa on the subject 'Quantum Gravity: Variations on a Theme'. From 1996 to 1997 he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Centre for Theoretical Studies of the Indian Institute of Science. From 1997 to 2003 he worked at Pearson Education and later at Siemens AG in software development and project management.