Buying Options
Great Java
Video $59.99
(Streaming, Downloadable)
Add to Cart
Safari Books Online
Add to Cart
What is this?

Great Java

Level 1

By
Brett McLaughlin
Publisher:
O'Reilly Media
Released:
November 2009
Run time:
5 hours 24 minutes
Description

Great Java: Level 1 will teach you the fundamentals of Java, from the basics of compilation through methods, objects, and the key concepts of good programming. By the time you're through these lessons, you'll be programming, and programming well.

Throughout the course, you'll progressively learn to code and compile programs, work extensively with text, and declare, convert, and cast between data types. You'll also read files, get user input, and build arrays, including multi-dimensional arrays. Finally, you'll move into objects, modeling your data and behavior into core Java structures.

Full Description
Table of Contents
  1. 1.

    Check Your Version of Java

    1 minute
    Learn how to check your current version of Java, and make sure you've got the version required for this course.
  2. 2.

    Download and Install Java

    2 minutes
    Java is a free download, and in this lesson, you'll learn download the right version of Java, and get it installed on your system.
  3. 3.

    Get the Java Tools Working

    1 minute
    Java comes with a lot of tools, but you just need to learn how to use java and javac to get started.
  4. 4.

    Set Up Your Environment

    1 minute
    Turn a few windows into a productive, code-friendly programming environment that's just right for you.
  5. 5.

    Bookmark the Java API Docs

    2 minutes
    Java's a complicated language. In this lesson, you'll make things easier on yourself by bookmarking the Java document set for easy (and frequent) reference.
  6. 6.

    Create a Java Source File

    4 minutes
    Everything in Java begins with a .java source file. Get your hands dirty and write your first source file in this lesson.
  7. 7.

    Compile a Java Source File

    3 minutes
    Computers don't understand your source file. In this lesson, you'll convert your source file to something the computer does understand: byte code.
  8. 8.

    How Java Works

    1 minute
    What's really going on with your source file, that .class file, javac, and all these other commands? You're ready to see the big picture, and this lesson is the key to how Java works.
  9. 9.

    Run a Java Program

    2 minutes
    You've written a source file, and you've compiled that file into something the computer can understand. Now, it's time to run your program for the first time.
  10. 10.

    Challenge: Take In A Number

    2 minutes
    Time to get involved. In this challenge, you'll improve your code to add more interactivity.
  11. 11.

    Solution: Take In A Number

    4 minutes
    Learn how to solve the "Take in a Number" challenge.
  12. 12.

    Challenge: Higher or Lower

    3 minutes
    It's up to you again. Now, you've got to add conditional statements to your guessing game, and give the user more feedback about their guesses.
  13. 13.

    Solution: Higher or Lower

    5 minutes
    Make sure you've got your ifs, elses, less-thans, and greater-thans in the right place in this solution to the "Higher or Lower" challenge.
  14. 14.

    Loop with while

    6 minutes
    Sometimes you need to do the same thing twice... or three times... or more. Take control of your program flow with while loops.
  15. 15.

    Create Code Blocks with Braces

    4 minutes
    There's more to organizing your code than spaces, tabs, and carriage returns. Curly braces let you take complete control over grouping and sectioning off your code.
  16. 16.

    Challenge: Hot or Cold

    1 minute
    It's one thing to watch someone else branch their code; now it's your turn. Add additional branching to your guessing game, and add further control and interactivity to your guessing game program.
  17. 17.

    Solution: Hot or Cold

    3 minutes
    Work through the solution to the "Hot or Cold" challenge, and get your ifs/elses and whiles in order.
  18. 18.

    Your Program is a Network of Roads

    2 minutes
    As your programs get convoluted, you need a way to keep them organized and clear in your head. By visualizing your program as a network of roads, you can easily keep up with your program's flow.
  19. 19.

    Clean Up Your Code

    2 minutes
    Organized code matters. The easier it is to read and navigate through your code, the more efficient and effective you and other people working on your code will be. Take a few moments to clean up your code.
  20. 20.

    Use Counters and Breaks in Your Loops

    6 minutes
    Computers are good at counting. In this lesson, let the computer count for you. You'll add variables, more looping logic, and gain even more control over your program.
  21. 21.

    Challenge: Count Down the Guesses

    3 minutes
    You've seen how to count up; now you have to count down. Tell the computer how to do a little extra work, and improve your guessing game even further.
  22. 22.

    Solution: Count Down the Guesses

    6 minutes
    Work through the solution to the "Count Down the Guesses" challenge and put your computer to work counting down.
  23. 23.

    Loop a Set Number of Times with for

    9 minutes
    How many times should you loop? What's an "exit condition?" By the time you finish this lesson, you'll have more than just one way to exit a loop... and more than one kind of loop!
  24. 24.

    Challenge: Rewrite the Game with for Loops

    1 minute
    When is a for loop better than a while loop? When is a while loop good enough? Figure out for yourself as you convert your guessing game to use for loops.
  25. 25.

    Solution: Rewrite the Game with for Loops

    5 minutes
    Take a look at one way to change the guessing game to use for loops in this solution to "Rewrite the Game with for Loops."
  26. 26.

    Download and Install Eclipse

    1 minute
    A text editor is great for writing code, but an IDE is often better. Take a break from coding and add the Eclipse IDE to your programming environment.
  27. 27.

    Set Up Your Eclipse Environment

    3 minutes
    Eclipse comes pre-loaded with lots of great features--and a few that aren't so great. Customize Eclipse to work with you, not against you.
  28. 28.

    Work With Java Projects

    1 minute
    How does Eclipse work with your Java files? Everything in Eclipse is based on projects, and in this lesson, you'll get a handle on how those projects work.
  29. 29.

    Setting Up the Sample Files

    5 minutes
    Get your sample files set up for this section. You'll even get a sneak peek at some more advanced Java features in the process.
  30. 30.

    Programmers Create By Change

    1 minute
    Change is a part of the programming life. Take a first look at why changing existing code is no big deal, and an important skill for every programmer.
  31. 31.

    Use substring to Get at Your Data

    4 minutes
    Read in a string, and break it into smaller useful pieces using the substring method. This is your first step toward mastering strings, so let's get going.
  32. 32.

    How Strings Work

    2 minutes
    You've seen how Java works, and you've seen your program as a network of roads. But how do strings work? How does Java "see" your strings? Learn all that and more in this visual presentation of strings.
  33. 33.

    Your Code Must Deal With Change

    2 minutes
    You've changed existing code, but now the data your code works with is changing. What do you do? Well, you've got to make your code more flexible.
  34. 34.

    Search for a Specific Text

    8 minutes
    How do you find a specific piece of text? How do you find one small bit of text in a long, unwieldy string? Use substring and indexOf, two methods you'll work with in this lesson.
  35. 35.

    Challenge: Find the Guitar Price

    1 minute
    It's time to put your new tools to work. In this challenge, you'll need to find several specific bits of text, work with them, and output them in very well-defined ways.
  36. 36.

    Solution: Find the Guitar Price

    4 minutes
    There's more to working with text than finding a text and printing it. Sometimes you've got to find one thing to find another! Sound confusing? It won't by the time you've worked through this solution for "Find the Guitar Price."
  37. 37.

    Challenge: Deal with Changing Input

    2 minutes
    Your input is changing again, and your code has to, as well. In this challenge, you've got another wrinkle to work with: more changing data. Your job is to make your code more flexible yet again.
  38. 38.

    Solution: Deal with Changing Input

    6 minutes
    Learn how to make your program more flexible, more adaptable, and easier to update and change.
  39. 39.

    Java Deals with Data Types

    4 minutes
    Java thinks about your text, your numbers, your data, in terms of types of data. So your number is an int or a float, your text is a String, and so forth. In this lesson, you'll take control of those data types, and see why Java can get confused... even if you're not.
  40. 40.

    Convert Data Types with Casting

    4 minutes
    What if you need a piece of text treated as a number? Or a decimal treated as an integer (with some loss of precision)? In those cases, you need to "force" Java to switch between data types. This lesson gives you the tools to do just that.
  41. 41.

    Use Double for Decimal Types

    4 minutes
    There's more than one data type that works for decimal values. Learn why double is a good, simple choice for your basic decimal needs.
  42. 42.

    There's Still Plenty to Learn

    1 minute
    So what about data types we haven't covered? What about that main() method? What about all those things you're not even sure you need to know? Get a taste of what's to come, and why it's okay that you don't know everything yet.
  43. 43.

    Challenge: Find the Best Car Deals

    3 minutes
    Dig right into another tricky problem. In the process, you'll start to see why reusable code is a big deal.
  44. 44.

    Solution: Find the Best Car Deals

    7 minutes
    Was your solution workable? Was it messy? Why? In this lesson, you'll solve a problem, but begin to see why code is best written once, no matter how many times it needs to run.
  45. 45.

    Solution: Find the Best Car Deals Pt. 2

    7 minutes
    In the process of solving the "Find the Best Car Deals" challenge, you found a lot of repeated code. In this lesson, continue to think about improving your code by identifying the parts of your code that are duplicated.
  46. 46.

    Duplicate Code is Impossible to Maintain

    3 minutes
    Even though your solution to "Find the Best Car Deals" works, it's not very good code. Changes to one place require changes to several other places. But why? This lesson answers that question.
  47. 47.

    Create a Function

    6 minutes
    It's time to put theory into practice. Create your first function (and a few more besides) to reduce the duplicate code in your Java source file.
  48. 48.

    Pass Information to a Function

    3 minutes
    Your function needs data. Pass information into a function, and then use that information within the function to get some serious work done... without duplicating code.
  49. 49.

    Get Information from a Function

    4 minutes
    Once your function is working, what do you do with any data that it produces? This lesson walks you through returning information from a function to your main program body.
  50. 50.

    Challenge: Complete DealFinder

    0 minutes
    It's time to finish up all those functions in your code. Get busy making your code easier to maintain, and a lot easier to improve.
  51. 51.

    Solution: Complete DealFinder

    6 minutes
    This lesson walks through the solution to "Complete DealFinder." By the time you're through, you'll have several functions, with input and output.
  52. 52.

    The Names You Choose Matter

    2 minutes
    What's in a name? Well, quite a bit. Take a closer look at how a good name can really help your code, and a bad name can completely wreck it.
  53. 53.

    Pass Multiple Parameters to a Function

    7 minutes
    Sometimes your reusable code needs more than just one piece of information. With parameter lists, though, you can pass as much data to a function as you need. Update your functions in this lesson to take in multiple parameters.
  54. 54.

    Use Constants to Clarify Your Code

    6 minutes
    Variables change. But what if you need to store a piece of data that shouldn't change? In this lesson, create unchanging variables, better known as constants.
  55. 55.

    A Closer Look at main()

    2 minutes
    What's going on with that main() method? You'll start to get a bigger picture of how Java runs and handles your code, and especially the main() method, in this lesson.
  56. 56.

    Duplicate Code is Really Bad

    2 minutes
    Are you sensing a common theme? Even with many improvements, you've still got a lot of duplicated code in DealFinder. Find it, and figure out what the problem really is.
  57. 57.

    Consolidate Repeated Tasks into Functions

    5 minutes
    Anytime you see the same code twice in a program, move that code into a function. Then you can call your function, and change that code one time and affect all of your code.
  58. 58.

    Use Your New Function

    1 minute
    Using a function is easy. In this lesson, you'll invoke, or call, your new function.
  59. 59.

    Refactoring is a Beautiful Thing

    3 minutes
    Refactoring doesn't always seem like a lot of fun, and it doesn't always add functionality to your code. But, it makes your code maintainable, and always pays off in the long run.
  60. 60.

    Finish Initializing Your Arrays

    1 minute
    You've got several arrays now, and they all need to be filled with data. In this lesson, you'll fill out another array of strings and an array of boolean values.
  61. 61.

    Arrays Are a Lot Like Strings

    1 minute
    A string is a sequence of characters, and an array is a sequence of "things." Those things can be strings, booleans, or just about anything else.
  62. 62.

    Challenge: Process Arrays of Car Data

    2 minutes
    You've got to use your newly-created arrays to process car data. In the process, you'll clean up your code a good deal.
  63. 63.

    Arrays Have a Length

    3 minutes
    An array is a sequence of things--and you'll often need to know just how many of those things are in the array. Learn how to get the length of an array, and use that length in your loops.
  64. 64.

    Fragile, Duplicate, or Bulletproof?

    3 minutes
    Just because your code works doesn't mean you're done with it. You've got to remove duplicate code, but you've also got to make sure your data models the real world as much as possible. Learn how to do all of this and more in this lesson and the next section.
  65. 65.

    Create an Array of Filenames

    3 minutes
    You've seen sequences of characters, called strings. In this lesson, you'll create a new sequence of strings, within an array.
  66. 66.

    Initialize Your Array

    4 minutes
    Initializing an array is just setting its values. You need to fill your new array with String filenames, and this lesson will show you how.
  67. 67.

    Solution: Process Arrays of Car Data

    4 minutes
    This lesson walks you through using arrays to process car data. You'll see a lot of improvement, and a few things that still need to be cleaned up a bit later.
  68. 68.

    Related Objects Should Be Related

    2 minutes
    Objects aren't just a neat programming concept. They're the key to understanding Java, and even more importantly, to modeling what you see in the real world. Get a quick crash course in how objects are related to each other.
  69. 69.

    Create an Object

    2 minutes
    Creating an object is simple. In this video, you'll create your first custom object, the Car object.
  70. 70.

    Give Your Object Data

    3 minutes
    Objects have values--called properties, or data--and your Car object needs some. In this lesson, add data to your Car object.
  71. 71.

    Objects Have Methods

    4 minutes
    Besides properties, objects also have behavior. You model those behaviors in Java using methods. Add a few simple methods to your Car object in this lesson.
  72. 72.

    Instantiate Your Object

    3 minutes
    How do you use your new object? You instantiate it. Learn what instantiation is, and how to use the new keyword.
  73. 73.

    Challenge: Build Out the Car Object

    1 minute
    Now that you've got a sense of objects, it's time to build out Car with some additional code.
  74. 74.

    Solution: Build Out the Car Object

    7 minutes
    Your Car object should now have a lot of data, and several useful methods. Take a moment to make sure your version of Car matches ours.
  75. 75.

    Challenge: What Belongs In Your Object

    1 minute
    Sometimes you just need to take a breath and think about a tough problem. Why do some properties and methods belong in one object, and not another?
  76. 76.

    Solution: What Belongs In Your Object

    2 minutes
    Objects model real-world items and processes, and you've got to begin thinking that way about your own custom objects. In this lesson, differentiate between what is a car, and what's not.
  77. 77.

    Create a CarProcessor Class

    3 minutes
    Objects can model more than flesh-and-blood (or metal-and-rubber) real-world entities. They can also model processes. In this lesson, you'll create a processor that turns XML data into Car objects.
  78. 78.

    Challenge: Complete the CarProcessor Class

    2 minutes
    It's time for you to get busy coding in an object-oriented world. You've got lots of work to do on CarProcessor, and plenty of connections to build between your CarProcessor, the Car object, and your main program.
  79. 79.

    Solution: Complete the CarProcessor Class Pt 1

    5 minutes
    First, you've got to build out CarProcessor. There's a lot of cut-and-pasting, but some real work to be done as well. In this lesson, we'll finish CarProcessor.
  80. 80.

    Solution: Complete the CarProcessor Class Pt 2

    6 minutes
    Once CarProcessor is done, you've got to connect your new class with Car and your main program. In this lesson, you'll walk through those connections and test your program out.
  81. 81.

    Objects Model Objects

    1 minute
    It seems a simple principle: just write your code so that it models the real world. Get a better grasp of how good object-oriented programming looks in this video tutorial.
  82. 82.

    Use Multiple Objects Together

    6 minutes
    With several objects floating around, you've got to connect them. This lesson helps you see how those connections work, and how one object often uses several other objects to create a complete, working program.
  83. 83.

    Challenge: Model Everything You Can with Objects

    3 minutes
    Sometimes your program's complexity is because you've grouped several concepts into one class or object. In this lesson, you've got to break out functionality into separate objects, and better model the real world.
  84. 84.

    Solution: Model Everything You Can with Objects Pt 1

    2 minutes
    First, you need a new class: CarListing. Build CarListing and set CarProcessor up so that it can work with the new object.
  85. 85.

    Solution: Model Everything You Can with Objects Pt 2

    2 minutes
    More changes to CarProcessor are coming in this lesson. You'll update CarProcessor to better function with CarListing. Along the way, your class will continue to move toward a better modeling of what's going on in the real world of car processing.
  86. 86.

    Solution: Model Everything You Can with Objects Pt 3

    5 minutes
    Now you've just got to tie everything together. Connect CarListing, CarProcessor, Car, and your main program. The result? A good deal on some pricey cars. Even better, though, you're writing well-crafted object-oriented code.
  87. 87.

    There Is So Much More to Learn

    1 minute
    Even over five hours into Java, there's a ton left to do. In fact, some of the very program you're working on still needs work. Take a quick survey of what's left to do, and even get an idea of what's coming in Great Java: Level 2.
View Full Table of Contents
Product Details
Title:
Great Java
By:
Brett McLaughlin
Publisher:
O'Reilly Media
Formats:
  • Safari Books Online
  • Video
Video Release:
November 2009
Run time:
5 hours 24 minutes
Customer Reviews
Got a Question?
icons
Favicon Service and support by Satisfaction