Java: An Eventful Approach (Paperback)

by Kim Bruce (Author), Andrea Danyluk (Author), Thomas Murtagh (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Java: An Eventful Approach has been written from the ground up to help students master objects and events first—so they can begin accomplishing serious programming tasks with Java far more quickly.

Authored by three leading experts in computer science instruction—including 2005 SIGCSE award-winner Kim Bruce—this book reflects a fundamental rethinking of how Java and object-oriented languages are taught. To give students the "training wheels" they need to rapidly begin using sophisticated Java features, the authors introduce a complete objectoriented graphics library. Using it, students can immediately begin programming simple graphics and animations, and literally see the results of their code. Students learn core language features as they're ready—and master powerful features such as concurrency far sooner than in conventional treatments.

This book's object-first approach, content, and features have been systematically proven at many of the world's leading universities, four-year colleges, and two-year institutions. Features include:

• Strong focus on event-driven programming with GUI components: a paradigm students recognize from their experience with point-and-click environments
• Early introductions to simple concurrency and threads, focusing on correct programming style
• Thorough, step-by-step coverage of all typical introductory material, including arrays, strings, recursion, files, sorting, searching, inheritance, and more
• An exceptionally effective approach to teaching exceptions
• A practical primer on the fundamentals of object-oriented design
• Embedded chapter exercises for assessing progress
• End-of-chapter review exercises and programming problems that reinforce key concepts and techniques
• Appendix explaining how to navigate and read any Java API

About the Author

Kim B. Bruce, Reuben C. and Eleanor Winslow Professor of Computer Science at Pomona College, holds a Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin at Madison, and formerly taught at Williams College and Princeton University. He has served on several national curriculum committees in computer science, and earned the 2005 SIGCSE award for outstanding contributions to CS education.

Andrea Pohoreckyj Danyluk, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Williams, holds a Ph.D. from Columbia, and has contributed to the ACM/IEEE Task Force' on Computing Curricula.

Thomas P. Murtagh, Professor of Computer Science at Williams, holds a Ph.D. from Cornell and formerly taught at Purdue. He has published on CS pedagogy and curricular design, and on topics ranging from compiler optimization to operating system design.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (August 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131424157
• ISBN-13: 978-0131424159
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #581,873 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars starts off immediately with objects and graphics, December 27, 2005

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The authors have taken an interestingly different pedagogy to teaching Java to someone totally new to it, or indeed new to any programming language. Most texts on Java start off with describing the simple syntax, like for performing arithmetic, or inputting or outputting a string. These must necessarily be done within at least one class, since Java is very strict about this. But this approach is essentially the same as for earlier non-object oriented languages like C or Fortran. Typically, only later in such a Java text will object oriented discussions arise, or the use of graphics.

The novelty offered in this text is to emphasise from the very first chapter the object oriented nature of Java. This is aided by the use of graphics classes. The authors chose graphics because these give an immediate visual feedback to the student, that is very intuitive. This tight feedback loop can aid understanding or even the interest of the student. The two issues are often related!

Also, they do the student a favour by simplifying what can admittedly be a confusing melange of associated graphics classes, when you attach a Listener to a Java graphics object. Because then you usually need to write a class that implements that Listener interface, even if you won't be using all the methods. All this is needed under Java. But the authors finesse it by providing a class library which they call objectdraw. It lets the student focus on the key graphics ideas without tripping over the boilerplate. Later in the text, it reveals the usual gory details of what normally has to be done. Hopefully, the student will be experienced enough by then to take this in stride.

Another bonus about this book is that through its examples of an Integrated Development Environment, it encourages the student to adopt the free Eclipse. Thus far, Eclipse has been mostly used by experienced Java professionals. But it has very powerful helper facilities. Pushing it down to new programmers may well help them.

4.0 out of 5 stars Java: An Eventful Approach Review, July 13, 2007

By	Judith A. Nigro "computer programmer" (Santa Barbara, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's a good book overall. It offers a more practical approach to object-oriented programming. The fun excercises challenged me enough to make me confident in each lesson. However, because it's only a first edition, there were numerous spelling and syntax mistakes. Nonetheless, I learned an incredible amount about Java and have now found a new hobby.