ECR APCS Summer Reading Assignment

Thank you for your interest in APCS at ECR. If you enjoy being challenged to think, you'e chosen the right class.

The Book

Barry Burd
Beginning Programming with Java for Dummies, 2d ed.
ISBN: 0-7645-8874-5
You can get this book from online retailers. Note this this is an older edition and that the chapter references and page numbers in this assignment are specific to this older edition. Do not purchase the new edition and expect it to correspond to this assignment.

The Assignment by Chapter

  1. Skim it
  2. Do this chapter, making sure to install the latest version (6) of the Java Software Development Kit and Java Runtime Environment as available on this page: Java SE Downloads. Java is free and available for Windows and Linux. Macs already have Java, but you'll want to get the latest Java installation from Apple's Developer Site.
  3. Skim
  4. Read all. Important concepts:
    1. keywords
    2. identifiers
    3. literals
    4. punctuation
    5. comments
    6. method
    7. main method
    8. class
  5. All, but note that p. 72, Table 5-1's last row has some syntax that is no longer valid. findInLine(".") is no longer acceptable code and will result in an error in Java 6 and higher. So, ignore the explanation at the top of 73.
  6. All. Important concepts:
    1. variables
    2. assignment statements
    3. types
    4. declarations
  7. All
  8. All. But note that the AP subset does not include the char type. Also: the Listing 8-3 on 127 will not work properly, as mentioned earlier, so skip it or figure out a way to do it with the .substring() method. Again, the big explanation on 29 is no longer valid, as findInLine(".") is not acceptable for this purpose anymore.
  9. All
  10. Read it, but skip 176–180 since the enum type is not in the AP subset. And on 167, we run again into the findInLine(".") problem. Here is a way to revise that class into something that will work in all versions of Java. Note that I have commented out the lines that need to be removed; you will need to add the new lines as shown: Update to Listing 10-4
  11. Skip (enum is not in the AP subset)
  12. All.
  13. Skip.
  14. Skip.
  15. 245–254 ONLY
  16. All
  17. All
  18. All through 314.
  19. All
  20. Skip

The Test

On the first day of class in the fall, you will take a test on the material in the assignment. You will have to read some Java code and point out errors in it; name variables, methods, and classes according to accepted naming conventions; demonstrate a knowledge of assignment, comparision, conditional, logical, arithmetic, and incrementing operators; write a method that performs a simple calculation, call a method, construct an object from a pre-existing class, and figure out the output of some given code.