Teaching OO methodology in a project-driven CS2 course

  • Authors:
  • E. Frank Barry;Christopher C. Ellsworth;Barry L. Kurtz;James T. Wilkes

  • Affiliations:
  • Appalachian State University, Boone, NC;Appalachian State University, Boone, NC;Appalachian State University, Boone, NC;Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

  • Venue:
  • OOPSLA '05 Companion to the 20th annual ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming, systems, languages, and applications
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

After we adopted an objects-first approach in CS1, we had to redesign our CS2 and data structures courses. This paper reports on our efforts to develop a project-driven CS2 course that expands on the object-oriented methodology introduced in the CS1 course. We focused on using collections and base classes in meaningful, large-scale projects helping students understand why these classes are important before concentrating on implementation in the subsequent data structures and algorithms course. We also introduce the concepts of design patterns and frameworks. This paper focuses on the OO methodology developed in the course; a companion paper [6] deals with pedagogical issues in using our approach.