This is the official web page that will be used for communicating information between Professor Baldwin and students enrolled in this course.
Broken Links:
Sometimes one or more of the links which tie these online documents together
will become accidentally broken. If you discover a broken link, or any
other problem with the online documents, please notify me as soon as possible
so that I can repair the problem.
Attendance:
For students enrolled in the classroom sections, it is possible that you may be
administratively withdrawn from the course if you fail to attend class at least
once during the first two weeks of the semester. However, you must not
depend on me to withdraw you if you need to be withdrawn. Withdrawal is
the responsibility of the student and is not the responsibility of the
instructor.
Also see information about attandance requirements in the section on grades in the Syllabus.
Questions via Email:
From time to time you may need to ask questions via email, and I encourage you
to do so. However, please make the question as specific as possible. For
example, "I don't understand OOP" is not a question that I can easily
answer via email.
If you, like many others, procrastinate and save your questions until the weekend before an exam deadline, don't be surprised if you don't get a response from me until after the exam deadline has passed. The weekend before an exam deadline is not the time to for you to begin trying to learn how to program in Java.
I am usually happy to answer questions about Java programming concepts at the level of this course. However, please don't ask questions about the exams (unless you believe there is a problem with one of the test files that I have provided). It is almost certain that I won't answer them. It isn't fair for me to answer questions about the exams from one student when all students don't have an opportunity to hear the question and the answer. After all, if I didn't give take-home exams, you wouldn't have an opportunity to ask questions anyway. Just pretend that you are taking the exam in an ACC testing center and that I am not there.
When appropriate, please illustrate your question with a short sample program. When you send a sample program, please observe several important rules:
I am here to help you, so don't hesitate to ask for help when you need it.
If you send email to me, it is imperative that you identify yourself as a student in my class, and also identify the specific class in which you are enrolled, or you may not receive an answer. I receive large numbers of email messages from persons all over the world asking questions about Java programming. I don't have the time to answer all of them. If you identify yourself as a member of my class and identify the specific class, I will make it a point to try to answer your question.
It is also important that you provide a telephone number where I can contact you. I receive many email messages from students with invalid return email addresses. If you include your telephone number and your return email address doesn't work, I will usually try at least once to contact you by telephone.
How many lessons...?
I frequently receive questions (both via Email and in the classroom) similar to
the following, “How many tutorial lessons do I need to read to be able to write
the program for problem X on exam Y?”
My answer is usually something like the following, “Read (and understand) as many lessons as necessary to learn enough about Java programming to be able to write the programs or answer the questions.”
If I gave true/false and essay tests in the classroom under closed-book conditions, I would feel obligated to tell you in advance how many lessons you need to understand in order to prepare for the test. However, my tests are all take-home tests. You have access to all of the test questions from very early in the semester. You have access, not only to my tutorials, but also to any book that you wish to consult, and to numerous resources on the web, in preparing yourself to successfully complete the exam. I consider it to be your responsibility to make use of those resources in whatever manner, and on whatever schedule works best for you.
I simply provide the tutorial materials, conduct classroom lectures and discussions, answer appropriate Email questions, and establish the necessary deadlines. (Unfortunately, deadlines are a fact of life, not only in college, but also in the workplace.) I make no attempt to tell you how to schedule your time and your efforts.
So, before you ask, the answer is, “Consult whatever resources you need to consult, on whatever schedule you need to consult them, to learn enough about Java programming to be able to successfully complete the exams by the required deadlines (but please don’t get human assistance in the actual writing of the exam).”
Getting Started:
See the material in the "Hello World" lesson for instructions on how
to compile and run a Java application.
Failure to meet prerequisites:
Please don't ask me to teach the Introductory or Intermediate Java
Programming material to you. If you don't already understand that
material, it will be your responsibility to learn it, on your own, without
assistance from me.
If things don't seem to be working properly when you follow these links, you may need to clear your cache or force a reload or both. With Netscape, you can force a reload by holding down the shift key and clicking the reload button at the top of the browser page. You can clear the cache in the Preferences menu.
Check this area daily for messages from Professor Baldwin to all students enrolled in the class.
12/02/99
JDK 1.1 vs. JDK 1.2:
During the spring of 1999 we made the switch from JDK 1.1 to JDK 1.2 in my Java
classes. Since there are some compatibility problems between the two versions,
this switch resulted in some confusion (and will probably continue to do so).
Because of the compatibility problems, it is my plan that we will continue to keep
JDK 1.1 installed at the Northridge campus during the Spring semester of 2000.
Insofar as practical, I plan to use JDK 1.2 exclusively for teaching my Java courses. However, because of the compatibility problems, it may sometimes be necessary for me to fall back on JDK 1.1. Please plan your activities accordingly.
Most programs compiled under JDK 1.1 should execute successfully under JDK 1.2 (see the discussion at http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/compatibility.html). However, there are some known compatibility problems, particularly when using Swing. For example, when using Swing, the following import statement:
import com.sun.java.swing.*; //JDK 1.1/Swing 1.0.3 version
must replaced by:
import javax.swing.*; //JDK 1.2 version
If you fail to make the replacement, sometimes you will simply get runtime warning messages and the program will appear to run correctly. At other times the program won't run correctly (with Pluggable Look and Feel for example).
There may also be other required changes that you can learn about at the above URL. (In the final analysis, it will be your responsibility to identify all of the required changes.)
The tests that you submit must be compatible with the version of the JDK that is running in the NRG labs during the week prior to the deadline for the test and must be compatible with JDK 1.2 if possible.
You need to be aware that updating all of the sample programs in all of my tutorial lessons to make them fully JDK 1.2 compatible will be a monumental task, and won't be accomplished for many months.
You also need to be aware that it will probably be many months before printed books that are fully JDK 1.2 compliant begin to appear in the bookstores. Be wary of any book that mentions JDK 1.2 on its cover. If past history is any indication, the covers on many existing books will simply be reprinted with a JDK 1.2 flash in an attempt to continue to sell those books. That is what happened in the months immediately following the release of JDK 1.1 which caused thousands of books on JDK 1.0 to become obsolete overnight.
01/10/2000
The exams for this course are ready for downloading by properly registered
students. Send me an email message to request the password required to extract
the exams from the zip file.
01/12/2000
Message from a student reads as follows:
Thanks for the password. I noticed that in the exams, the header
reads:
"Intermediate Java Programming"
where it should read "Advanced Java Programming".
Also... the link to:
http://www.austin.cc.tx.us/baldwin/
gets sent to a page that redirects itself to
http://www2.austin.cc.tx.us/baldwin/
01/12/2000
The two problems mentioned in the above student message have been fixed.
The exam files now contain the correct title – CIS 2523, Advanced Java
Programming.
Also, the URL to my web site at ACC has been corrected.
RGB
01/26/2000
For reasons that I don’t understand, my main Geocities page for accessing the
tutorials has been closed down and gives a “forbidden” error.
The following alternative URL can be used to access the tutorials temporarily while I come up with something better.
http://home.att.net/~baldwin.r.g/scoop/index.htm
02/02/2000
It has come to my attention that if you view the HTML files containing the
exams using an older browser that doesn’t support cascading style sheets, or
using a new browser that does support cascading style sheets, but you have
JavaScript disabled, then your view of the specifications may be different from
my view of the specifications.
For example, the following sample output may appear in your browser as though there should be blank lines between the actual lines of output when in fact no blank lines should appear in your output.
First line of
output
Second line of output with no blank line
Third line of output with no blank line
Fourth line of output with no blank line
If you are seeing blank lines of this sort when you view the program specifications, then you either need to upgrade to a new browser that supports cascading style sheets, or if your browser already supports cascading style sheets, you need to make certain that you have JavaScript enabled. If you are using a browser that supports cascading style sheets, and you have JavaScript enabled, and you are still seeing blank lines, please let me know.
02/04/2000
I frequently receive questions (both via Email and in the classroom) similar to
the following, “How many tutorial lessons do I need to read to be able to write
the program for problem X on exam Y?”
My answer is usually something like the following, “Read (and understand) as many lessons as necessary to learn enough about Java programming to be able to write the programs or answer the questions.”
If I gave true/false and essay tests in the classroom under closed-book conditions, I would feel obligated to tell you in advance how many lessons you need to understand in order to prepare for the test. However, my tests are all take-home tests. You have access to all of the test questions from very early in the semester. You have access, not only to my tutorials, but also to any book that you wish to consult, and to numerous resources on the web, in preparing yourself to successfully complete the exam. I consider it to be your responsibility to make use of those resources in whatever manner, and on whatever schedule works best for you.
I simply provide the tutorial materials, conduct classroom lectures and discussions, answer appropriate Email questions, and establish the necessary deadlines. (Unfortunately, deadlines are a fact of life, not only in college, but also in the workplace.) I make no attempt to tell you how to schedule your time and your efforts.
So, before you ask, the answer is, “Consult whatever resources you need to consult, on whatever schedule you need to consult them, to learn enough about Java programming to be able to successfully complete the exams by the required deadlines (but please don’t get human assistance in the actual writing of the exam).”
2/18/00
Ever since the hacker attack on Yahoo.com last week, I have been unable to send
email messages to anyone with an email address of someone@yahoo.com
I complained to my RoadRunner service and received the following message dated February 18, 2000:
Dear Road Runner Customer,
At this time we are working with Yahoo.com at a National level to get this
resolved. It appears that because of the hacker attack on them they have
some ports still being blocked against high bandwidth users. We do not
have an ETA at this time. Thank you and have a great day.
Road Runner
Technical Support
The bottom line is, if you use yahoo.com as your email provider, don’t expect to receive any email messages from me until Yahoo decides to allow incoming messages from RoadRunner.
3/12/2000
I have finished scoring Exam 1. If you submitted your exam via email, I
sent your score to you via email. If you submitted your exam to me personally
on a diskette, I am assuming that you will appear either in my office or in my
classroom to pick up your diskette and your score. In that case, I did
not email your score to you.
For those who submitted their exam on a diskette, your diskette and your score will be available for you to pick up on the first Monday following Spring break.
If you believe that you submitted Exam 1, but you don’t receive a score from me, you must notify me immediately so that we can clear up the problem.
3/12/2000
I have finished scoring Exam 1. If you submitted your exam via email, I
sent your score to you via email. If you submitted your exam to me
personally on a diskette, I am assuming that you will appear either in my
office or in my classroom to pick up your diskette and your score. In
that case, I did not email your score to you.
For those who submitted their exam on a diskette, your diskette and your score will be available for you to pick up on the first Monday following Spring break.
If you believe that you submitted Exam 1, but you don’t receive a score from me, you must notify me immediately so that we can clear up the problem.
5/3/2000
I received the following email message this morning:
“In order to protect ACC computers from a newly discovered virus called "I Love You" all incoming email has been blocked at the gateway firewall.
If you receive an email with the subject line "I LOVE YOU" do not open it. Delete it immediately.
As soon as Symantec updates their anti-virus software, the new DAT files will be posted on the ACC website ... and the restriction on incoming mail will be lifted. All ACCNet users are advised to update their DAT files as soon as they become available.”
If you have been trying unsuccessfully to submit your exam, this is the reason.
I will post an announcement here as soon as I am notified that the restriction has been lifted. I will also continue monitoring my email and will acknowledge receipt as soon as I receive your exam. Until then, please refrain from sending multiple copies of your exam to me. That will only create confusion.
Please continue checking here for further instructions.
5/3/2000 3:30pm
ACC email services were restored about 2:45pm.
Email services were blocked between about 9:00am and 2:45pm on this
date.
If you sent any email to me during that period, it was probably
rejected. Unless I responded to your
email message, you should resend the message now.
-end-
File: Cis2523Spring2000.htm