Spring Break Reading/Assignments

Self-study material

There are a number of topics we haven't covered during this first part of the course because I wanted to avoid introducing too much material at once.  It is now time for you to read and learn a bit about these topics on your own.  I think you are ready to do so without my help, but we can also spend a little bit of time in class on the more confusing aspects if necessary.

Ternary operator 

Please read the Wikipedia page for the ternary operator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%3F: .  Pay special attention to sections 1, 2.14, 3, and 4.

An example of its use is also shown in the Methods.java file, at the end of the isOdd method.

Switch-Case statement

This is another (cleaner) way to write certain cascading if-statements. Please read the Oracle documentation here: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/switch.html .  An example of its use is in the driver code for the flag project - GridDriver.java in the method launchStudentCode.

Wrappers

After spring break we'll start seriously talking about the object-oriented nature of Java.  For starters, we'll talk about wrapper classes - a special case of classes that are used to 'wrap' additional functionality around the primitive types.

Please read https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/data/numberclasses.html and https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/data/autoboxing.html

Also read: http://www.w3resource.com/java-tutorial/java-wrapper-classes.php . Note the example at the end that hints at how you can use these wrapper classes to convert between different number systems.  A quick project for you would be to write a simple number converter.  Combining that with a random number generator (similar to what we did when we discussed JUnit tests here: testOdd.java), you can create your own study helper.

Coding practice

You won't get good at programming without coding.  Many of you have asked me for sample questions and coding exercises.  The best resource is http://codingbat.com . Please work through the examples given there. If you get stuck  you can also see a solution.  Even if you get the right answer, the solutions they provide give you more insights into how you could solve the problems.

Review

Take the time over spring break to review all the material covered in class so far. Start by going to the Modules List in ELMS.