Building Java Programs: A Back to Basics Approach (2nd Edition) at Dominant Systems Book Store

Building Java Programs: A Back to Basics Approach, Second Edition, introduces novice programmers to basic constructs and common pitfalls by emphasizing the essentials of procedural programming, problem solving, and algorithmic reasoning. By using objects early to solve interesting problems and defining objects later in the course, Building Java Programs develops programming knowledge for a broad audience.

Customer Reviews & Comments
The dominant approach to teaching Java is to start with objects as early as possible - the object first approach. If this is what you want, then this is not the right book. However, I believe that a growing number of people, myself included, have come to believe that object first doesn't work. Since OO is primarily a design and organization approach for building large systems it typically does not make sense to students trying to do one or two page introductory projects. In addition, the time taken in trying to explain objects comes out of time that would have been spent in learning programming basics such as loops, arrays, etc. The result is too many students that can't write good procedural code, as well as never grasping object. Due to this problem, I have chosen to organize my classes to begin with a procedural style of programming (focused on loops and arrays) and introduce OO at the beginning of the second semester. One of my frustrations has been a lack of supporting material for this approach, particularly among introductory Java textbooks. This book solves this problem for me. It introduces concepts in almost exactly the order I have decided to use in my courses. The book is well written. It has a modern organization in terms of things like sidebars and its graphic design without going overboard and trying to compete with MTV the way the Head First series does, or by putting in a bunch of expensive color pictures that have nothing to do with the subject as many current textbooks do. In short, the book design matches its subtitle of being "a back to basics approach". The authors have chosen to avoid showing a specific IDE and limit graphics to an optional chapter. I approve of both of these choices. I find that teaching IDE's, such as BlueJ, leave students confused about what the tool does and what the programming language does. While full IDE's, such as Eclipse, overwhelm first semester students. Graphics are "sexy" but every library is different. Real world libraries, like Swing, are too complicated for first semester students. Teaching libraries make the students learn something that is promptly thrown away. I, like the authors, would rather put the effort into the basics of programming. This brings us to the book's other strengths - well thought out examples and assignments that use the basic portion of the language (and could be used with practically any language). A series of character graphic examples are presented that do a good job of showing ideas such as repetition, and functional decomposition. They also include many good "case studies" that show how to apply the techniques introduced in the chapter to a "large" (for first semester) programming problem that is related to real world concepts. For example, one early case study calculates body mass index (fat to weight ratio) of a person. Their case study examples are definitely better then what I am usually able to come up with on the fly, which I think is a key reason to even bother with a text book. Summary: I believe this book delivers on its title. It is a well written book that focuses on the basics of learning a programming language without getting lost among "hot" topics like OO, IDE's, or GUI's. I will be switching my classes to this book.

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