Designing a Java graphics library for CS 1

  • Authors:

  • Eric Roberts;Antoine Picard

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Computer Science, Stanford University;Department of Computer Science, Stanford University

  • Venue:
  • ITiCSE '98 Proceedings of the 6th annual conference on the teaching of computing and the 3rd annual conference on Integrating technology into computer science education: Changing the delivery of computer science education
  • Year:
  • 1998

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in using Java in introductory computer science courses. The advantages of choosing Java, however, must be balanced against two significant drawbacks: the instability caused by the rapid evolution of the Java toolkits and the complexity of the graphics model for new students. This paper outlines a strategy for teaching Java that eliminates these problems. The first component of that strategy is a set of low-level classes, DBCanvas and XGraphics, which together offer a double-buffered graphics model that is well matched to student intuition. The second component is a set of higher-level classes, principally Collage and Widget, which make it easy to introduce object-oriented techniques at the beginning of CS1. The sources for these classes are available on the Web at the URL http://cse.stanford.edu/java