This page provides links to external links that you may find helpful. The page will be updated throughout the semester.

Obviously the page lists only a tiny fraction of the resources available on the web: if you come across anything not here that you find helpful, please tell us via help1001 and we will look into adding a link here.

Text

Objects First with Java - A Practical Introduction using BlueJ Sixth edition David Barnes and Michael Kolling Pearson Education, 2012 (Earlier editions should be fine too.)

Unit Resources

• CITS1001 in a nutshell A handy (but somewhat dated) guide to the entire unit.
• CITS1001 code listings Code listings for lectures and workshops (again, slightly dated).
• FileIO.java.

Recommended Reading

• Think Java: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist by Allen B Downey (free book from Greentree Press)
  • There is also an interactive course based on the book, at https://books.trinket.io/thinkjava/
• The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick, Harper Collins UK, 2011
• Ancient babylonian algorithms by DE Knuth, Communications of the ACM, 1972
• About the Java language A site for learning about Java technology

Software

• BlueJ: an Integrated Development Environment for Novice Java programmers
  • Why BlueJ?
• Java 1.7 API (local copy)
• Checkstyle rules (xml) and the CSSE Java style guide
• An introduction to the Color class and colours in Java
• music-organizer-v5.zip

Online Programming Practice

• CodingBat code practice Short Java practice problems by Nick Parlante, with instant feedback.
• Practice-It is a web application to help you practice solving Java programming problems online.
• Exercism allows you to download and solve programming problems, obtain feedback, and see others' solutions to the problems. The Java section of the site has dozens of exercises ranging from basic to extremely challenging.

Online Courses

• The Java Tutorials are practical guides for programmers who want to use the Java programming language to create applications. They include hundreds of complete, working examples, and dozens of lessons. Groups of related lessons are organized into “trails”. This material goes way beyond the scope of CITS1001, but includes introductory lessons too.
• Computer Science 101 by Nick Parlante is a 6 week Coursera course that teaches the essential ideas of Computer Science for a zero-prior-experience audience. The CS101 course is available in self study mode so you can listen to the lectures and try the examples at any time. WARNING: CS101 is NOT a Java course, but it uses a stripped down version of Javascript which is quite similar to Java.