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Philhour

AP Computer Science Resources

Most recent update August 26, 2009 8:17 PM

Java Resources

• Course Textbook
  • Fundamentals of Java: AP Computer Science Essentials for the A Exam, 3rd Edition, by Lambert & Osborne, published by Thomson Course Technology
• Sun Java materials
  • Java API (this is the complete online set of documentation for Java)
  • AP Computer Science Subset of the Java API (these are the Java language elements you're responsible for knowing by the AP exam)
  • JDK (Java Development Kit - get latest version)
• Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
  • Eclipse
  • JCreator
  • JGrasp
  • Greenfoot
• Study Materials
  • Javabat - free online Java practice problems
  • Gridworld (AP Computer Science Case Study)
• Hello World! - getting Java working on your computer
  • On a PC
    • Step 1: verify that the Java Development Kit has been installed on your PC. Here's how you can tell: you'll have a folder in your Program Files folder called Java, and this folder will contain a folder that begins 'jdk' -- for instance, it might be jdk1.6.0_03 (see this screenshot) - or perhaps the number will be different for a different version. If this folder is present, you can skip to Step 3.
    • Step 2: install the Java Development Kit by navigating to the Sun Java downloads page and downloading the most recent JDK (in this screenshot, its JDK 6 Update 7). You don't need to download the most recent "beta" version. You will need to run the executable (.exe) file you download by double-clicking on it. Click through the installation and proceed to Step 3.
    • Step 3: find the \bin folder in Java \ Program Files \ jdk1.6.0_03 (or whatever version you download). Here's a screenshot - the bottom image is the one you want. (Note to get the path to the /bin folder in Vista you may need to click in the white folder bar to convert it to the C:\Program Files\Java\... format). Copy this path using Control-C -- you'll need to paste it in Step 4.
    • Step 4: set the Windows path to point to the \bin folder you copied in Step 3. To do this, open the Control Panel and type "PATH" in the search bar in the upper-right. Click on 'Edit the System Variables' and navigate using this photo as a guide until you have appended the path you copied in Step 3 onto the end of the path. Note that there must be a semicolon before your paste. The point of doing these last two steps is that Windows doesn't know to run an application automatically unless you specifically tell it about the application in the path or navigate to it through windows. Since we'll be in Console, this will save us a LOT of work.
    • Open the program called Command Prompt which is in the Start Menu under Program Files \ Accessories. Follow the example steps in the left window in this image. When you open notepad, type in the material exactly as shown in the right-hand window. If everything works as shown, you're set! Congrats! If not, be sure to get on the Forum or Chat for AP Computer Science in Catlink and let me know.
  • On a Mac
    • The Mac operating system comes with all you need to get running. We'll be using Macs in class, so you'll figure it out as you go!

Interactive Fiction Resources

• IDE
  • Inform 7 (the text-adventure programming language and novel IDE)
• Interpreters
• Windows Frotz (the text-adventure interpreter)
• Gargoyle (a really nice interpreter that uses fonts built for screen-reading)
• Zoom (for Mac OS X / Unix)