The ACM Java Task Force (original) (raw)

An Introduction to Java and Its History

2018

Java is currently one of the most influential programming languages. It all started in 1990, when an American company that was leading the revolution in the computer industry decided to gather its best engineers together to design and develop a product that would allow them to become an important player in the new emerging Internet world. Among those engineers was James Arthur Gosling, a Canadian computer scientist who is recognized as the “father” of the Java programming language. It would take five years of design, programming, and one rename (from Oak to Java because of trademark issues), but finally in 1996, Java 1.0 was released for Linux, Solaris, macOS, and Windows.

An evaluation framework and comparative analysis of the widely used first programming languages

PloS one, 2014

Computer programming is the core of computer science curriculum. Several programming languages have been used to teach the first course in computer programming, and such languages are referred to as first programming language (FPL). The pool of programming languages has been evolving with the development of new languages, and from this pool different languages have been used as FPL at different times. Though the selection of an appropriate FPL is very important, yet it has been a controversial issue in the presence of many choices. Many efforts have been made for designing a good FPL, however, there is no ample way to evaluate and compare the existing languages so as to find the most suitable FPL. In this article, we have proposed a framework to evaluate the existing imperative, and object oriented languages for their suitability as an appropriate FPL. Furthermore, based on the proposed framework we have devised a customizable scoring function to compute a quantitative suitability score for a language, which reflects its conformance to the proposed framework. Lastly, we have also evaluated the conformance of the widely used FPLs to the proposed framework, and have also computed their suitability scores.

A Brief History of Choosing First Programming Languages

History of Computing and Education 3 (HCE3), 2008

Choosing the best computer language for introducing students to programming is often an emotional issue, leading to protracted debates for many years. This paper aims to document how the development of programming languages has influenced the educational processes of choosing an introductory language since the early days of computing, by exploring some of the "programming languages that have been selected over the last couple of decades and the rational for those selections".

Java, practical programming course (Tecniche Nuove, Milan, 2017)

Foreword When planning a Java programming course in a school or even in a business context, the reduced number of hours available often has to be taken into account. A program that includes all aspects of the language is not feasible (for a much more extensive approach, from the syntactic point of view and for the topics dealt with, see note 3), but rather topics must be chosen with the aim of involving and also entertaining users, and hopefully encouraging to study the subject in greater depth in the future. Here we put forward a"possible method" (one of many) that has been repeatedly tested on many students. The method includes the advice to students to use the help and online help often (instructions on how to do this will be provided) to encourage autonomy in those who write programs from the outset. At the end, you will have learned to write some programs and be ready to start creating other projects (not exclusively in Java). The cognitive structures transmitted during the course are first and foremost linguistic structures. Noam Chomsky's Generative Transformational Grammar is the basic text from which the initial idea of the method started. In a 2001 interview, Dijkstra stated a desire for "elegance", whereby the correct approach would be to process thoughts mentally, rather than attempt to render them until they are complete. Here we can add that the constant correct use of formal language can contribute to the correct formulation of thoughts. If then, as in the case of Java, we are dealing with an object-oriented language, the syntactic structure contributes greatly to the organisation of thought. A linguistic model must therefore be proposed at the same time as the problem to be solved is presented, whether the problem is mathematical or otherwise. It is preferable to first analyse the algorithm in a discussion and then immediately formalise it in Java: no metalanguages or intermediate formal languages are needed as it could be misleading to isolate the problem from its final "linguistic solution". Finally, structured and functioning examples containing different linguistic constructs in relation to each other are analysed, and in this way more information is communicated to users than when single separate syntactic examples are used. Introduction From a technical point of view, every program in Java can be described as follows • It consists essentially of classes: the class is the linguistic unit that contains data (variables or properties) and operations (methods) on the data and it is recognisable because its name is preceded by the keyword class; • The classes are divided into packages, which group the classes according to their functionality (program start, graphics, mathematical or other operations and so on); • The classes are mutually related through two possible types of relationship: inheritance or composition; • Each class is given a constructor, a particular method that has the same name as the class, which is activated every time a class is created (with the instruction new) and contains all the instructions that must be executed first and only once each time the class is instantiated (created); • The call or activation of a class method by a method of another class can occur every time two classes are related (through inheritance or composition). If the method is public, the call can also be made from a class belonging to another package. Typically, when the program starts with a graphical interface (window), data is usually entered in the graphics package (frame) and this data is then processed by methods belonging to the classes of another package, whose name (mathematics, dictionaries, etc.) will be representative of the type of operations it contains; • At this point we provide the syntax tools that allow you to write any program as a set of classes in relation to each other, containing both data and operations on the data (see yes concept algebraic structure); • We provide information on the important concept of data encapsulation and introduce the use of the keyword private, thanks to which the data of a class are not directly accessible and modifiable by the operations of another class, for security reasons; • Use of get methods are introduced, followed by some setmethods. • We explain the fundamental concept of listener, which allows the program to interact with the operating system. • It should be noted that the language has many pre-defined class packages, which can be used by means of import instructions. • The imported classes that are often used include those that implement the basic data structures of computing: ArrayList, List, Hashmap, Map. In all the dictionaries created in the text examples, the HashMapis implemented, where the clear and constructive implementation of the function concept can be seen. Once the syntactic rules of language and the fundamental principles of object-oriented programminghave been learnt, with reference to examples written correctly in Java, the first step is to start writing programs by modifying or extending the available code, then, in the second step, code is created directly. The first step should not be omitted as, before starting to speak or write in a new language, it is essential to hear it spoken and see it written by those who have already mastered it. Learning syntactic rules is important but not sufficient, not even for a formal language. At the beginning the code writing method may involve a certain degree of automatism, for example a second button is created by observing how the first one was created, a class is instantiated and then a method is recalled, taking an example from a similar operation, and so on. It is in fact a constructive automatism, which helps to fix the essential basic linguistic models in the mind, which will then allow creative code to be generated later on. The correction of projects written by the students must be constant and immediate, in order to allow them to interact in a continuous manner with the code, which should lead to working programs as quickly as possible. When possible, hours of lectures can be reinforced by e-learning activities, thus using learning techniques in blended learning . Type 1 information containers For years we have called them e-books, even if the projects do not fully correspond to what is generally known as ebooks . Students create hundreds of them each year, choosing the multilingual, heterogeneous contents that most interest them . When they create these information containers that are interactive and can always be modified, they come into contact with very important aspects of language, including, not in order of importance: • Interfaces • Inheritance • XML files • String management • Redefinition of the paintComponent () method and use of the device context • Uploading images as wallpapers • Creation of multiple panels • Scroll management • HashMap, list, ArrayList and other Collections with parameterised types • The BufferedImage class and the getRGB () method with practical applications such as geographic maps (selection of a region by colour, etc.) • Use of the coordinates of an image to identify some of its parts (identification of planets and so on) • Links to websites through the URL and URI classes Finally arriving at the creation of a jar executable from any project, which can be run outside of an integrated environment and used on any computer on which the Java run-time has been installed. From a mathematical point of view, important concepts such as those of function and of algebraic structure can be seen applied in practice. As all this may be contained within a single program, we will be able to document it in detail. In any case, bringing together many significant aspects of language in one project helps to understand and remember them more easily.

Selection the First Educational Programming Language

The article describes requirements to educational programming languages and considers the use of Python as the first programming language. The issues of introduction of this programming language into teaching and replacing Pascal by Python are examined. The advantages of such approach are regarded. The comparison of popular programming languages is represented from the point of view of their convenience of use for teaching algorithmization and programming.

Introducing Java: A case for fundamentals-first

2004

Java has increasingly become the language of choice for teaching introductory programming. In this paper, we examine the different approaches to teaching Java (Objects-first, Fundamentals-first and GUI-first) to ascertain whether there exists an ...

From Babbage to Babel and beyond: A brief history of programming languages

Computer Languages, 1992

Al~tract--The history of computer programming languages is reviewed, with emphasis on the influences of early languages on later efforts. Four generations of software are presented, beginning with machine code, and continuing through fourth generation languages, paradigms, and environments.

Modula-2 versus Java as the first programming language

Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies 2016 - CompSysTech '16, 2016

The choice of the first programming language in computer science curricula is a complex multi-faceted issue that needs to be addressed from multiple points of view. In this paper we adopt the perspective of the teacher, and after surveying factors such as language features, programming paradigms, curricular concerns and students' perceptions, we present extended results of the empirical assessment of student performance at our introductory programming course, where a switch was recently made from Modula-2 to Java, keeping the course structurally unchanged. Our main aim is to investigate the impact of the first programming language to the acquisition of essential programming concepts, techniques and principles. New results involving students' high-school GPA and performance at other courses, backed up by thorough statistical analysis, remove some potential sources of bias regarding students' learning and cognitive abilities, reaffirming the overall conclusion that the programming language used in the introductory programming course does not have a deep impact on the acquisition of essential concepts, techniques and principles of the imperative programming style.