Printed resources

Required textbook

David J. Barnes and Michael Kolling: Objects First with Java - A Practical Introduction using BlueJ, Prentice Hall / Pearson Education, 2nd ed, 2004, ISBN: 0-13-124933-9. The books comes with BlueJ on a CD, but you're better off downloading the most recent version of the software from http://www.bluej.org/ (2.0.3 in December 2004). The book also has a companion website at http://www.bluej.org/objects-first/).

Please explore the various online resources, such as

• the projects described in the book;
• an errata
• The BlueJ tutorial
• BlueJ - Frequently Asked Questions
• Java crosswords
• a Java style guide
• "The BlueJ system and its pedagogy"
• "Guidelines for teaching Object Orientation with Java"
• "Teaching and Learning with BlueJ: an Evaluation of a Pedagogical Tool"
• Pedagogical Patterns

If you were late to buy your copy of the textbook, here are the Preface, Chapter 1: "Objects and classes", and Chapter 2: "Understanding class definitions". Here's also a copy of Chapter 7: "Designing classes ".

Note. The book is a good Object-Oriented Programming tutorial based on the Java programming language. It introduces concepts in an order appropriate for learning OOP; therefore it is nor good as a Java reference, you may want to look at some of the Java books below for that.

Recommended textbooks

• David Flanagan: Java in a Nutshell, 4th edition. O'Reilly, 2002 (covers Java 1.4).
  Online materials at: http://www.oreilly.com.catalog.javanut4/ .
  Very fast-paced tutorial for Java, with fairly complex examples. Very good as a reference book.
• (David Flanagan: Java Examples in a Nutshell, 2nd edition. O'Reilly, 2000 (covers Java 1.3).)
  More complex and complete examples..

• Cay S. Horstmannn, Gary Cornell: Core Java 2, vol I: Fundamentals. Sun Microsystems Press, 2002.
  I like the style, clear and concise.

• Bruce Eckel: Thinking in Java, 3rd edition. Prentice Hall, 2003.
  A pretty good introduction to Java as an object-oriented language, but it assumes some familiarity with programming (in a different language). Also available online (free !) at http://www.bruceeckel.com.

• Ian F. Darwin: Java Cookbook - Solutions and Examples for Java Developers. O'Reilly, 2001.
  As the name suggests, it's a book of receipes on how to do various things with Java.
  It comes with a website at: http://javacook.darwinsys.com.

• Glenn Brookshear: Computer Science - An Overview, Addison Wesley, 2003, ISBN: 0201781301. Webpage at http://wps.aw.com/aw_brookshear_compsci_7/, including teaching slides.

• Frederick P. Brooks: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition), Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0201835959.
  The classic book on the human elements of software engineering. 30% off at Amazon.

Web resources

Note. You will spend a fortune if you want to stay up-to-date with new Internet technology by buying books. Learns to find and use documentation, tutorials, and other such Web resources.

Java

• Download the Java Software Developers Kit (J2SDK).
• Sun's Java 1.4 documentation
• Sun's Java tutorial
• Java data typtes
• The Java Collection Classes, from Sun's online Java Tutorial.
• User Interfaces that Swing: A Quick Start Guide.
• Description of the Javadoc tool, including a list of Javadoc tags.
• How to Write Doc Comments for the Javadoc TM Tool - Sun's own recommendations for writing good comments.

Interesting articles

• Vicki L. Almstrum - What is the attraction to computing?, CACM 46(9), Sep 2003.
• Keith Devlin - Why universities require computer science students to take math, CACM 46(9), Sep 2003.
• Kim B. Bruce, Robert L. Scot Drysdale, Charles Kelemen, Allen Tucker - Why math ?, CACM 46(9), Sep 2003.
• Peter B. Henderson - Mathematical reasoning in software engineering education, CACM 46(9), Sep 2003.