This is the 2017-2018 AP Computer Science A curriculum. To see the current year, updated and expanded version, see my new website hosted on Github here.
AP Computer Science Java
Lecture Notes
One of the best books on introductory Java is Building Java Programs: A Back to Basics Approach by Stuart Reges and Marty Stepp. I adapted their powerpoint lectures to fit the AP Computer Science A curriculum. The result is the following lecture slides.
- Basic Java Syntax
- Operations and Data Types
- Method Parameters
- Conditionals
- For
- While Loops
- Input
- The String Class
- More On String and Boolean
- Intro to Classes
- More on Classes
- Arrays
- More on Arrays
- Inheritance
- More Inheritance
- Polymorphism
- Polymorphism II
- 2D Arrays
- Arraylist
- Wrapper Classes
- Interfaces and Abstract Classes
- More on Interfaces
- Recursion
- Searching and Sorting
Final Projects
Below are some of the most creative programming projects from my students at Boston Latin School. All are written in Java using the Processing IDE and ported to Javascript using ProcessingJS for the browser. I have only tested this on Google Chrome. Let me know if there are any errors. The basic requirements are that their programs are object-oriented with at least three or more objects and that inheritance and polymorphisms are used in a sensible way. Click on the project title to play.- Eel: 3D Snake Game by Adam Grant.
- Tetris by Jason Mar.
- Space Wars by Ricky Ciliberto.
- Shooter by Ricky Ciliberto.
- Tiny Tanks by Ben Givertz.
- Star Wars Galaga by Damon Prum.
- Tron by Rachel Lee.
- Space Invaders by Kathy Mei.
- Flippy Bird by John Mikulskis.
- Crazy Snakey by John Mikulskis.