Introduction to Interactive Programming In Java

Author(s): Lynn Andrea Stein, The Computers and Cognition Group, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Publication Date: 2003
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers

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Books excerpts:

Interactive Programming is an introduction to computer programming intended for students in standard CS1 courses (or interested professionals) with no prior programming experience. It is the first textbook to rethink the traditional curriculum in light of the current interaction-based computer revolution. Interactive Programming shifts the foundation on which the teaching of Computer Science is based, treating computation as interaction rather than calculation, thus providing students with a solid grounding in the thought that underlies modern software practice. Students still learn the basic and necessary elements of computer programming and the Java language, but the context in which they learn it is more consistent both with Java's tools and philosophy and with the prevailing practice from which it arises.

Interactive Programming provides an alternate entry into the computer science curriculum. It teaches problem decomposition, program design, construction, and evaluation, beginning with the following premises: A program is a community of interacting entities. Its "pieces" are these implicitly or explicitly concurrent entities: user interfaces, databases, network services, etc. They are combined by virtue of ongoing interactions which are constrained by interfaces and by protocols. A program is evaluated by its adherence to a set of invariants, constraints, and service guarantees -- timely response, no memory leaks, etc.

Because it begins from this alternate notion of what programming is about, Interactive Programming tells a rather different story from the traditional introductory programming book. By its end, students are empowered to write and read code for client-server chat programs, networked video games, web servers, user interfaces, and remote interaction protocols. They build event-driven graphical user interfaces and spawn cooperating threads. Each of these programs -- all of which are beyond the scope of traditionally taught introductory courses -- is a natural extension of the community metaphor for computation.

Intended Audience:

This book is designed for use by students who have no prior programming experience (typically college freshmen). It ultimately teaches both the fundamentals of computer programming and the details of the Java programming language.

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