Course Description:

Fast Track to Java™ 5 / Java 6 and OO Development

Fast Track to Java and OO Development is a fast paced course suitable for programmers with existing programming experience. It can be taught to audiences with less experience by reducing coverage of the optional, more advanced topics.

Java is one of the most important programming languages used today, and its correct usage is a critical part of many systems being written now. The basics of the language are relatively easy, but the challenge lies in learning how to use it well. This is especially true regarding the Object-Oriented nature of Java, which for many developers is a new way of approaching system design and construction.

In addition to teaching you everything you need to become productive in basic Java programming, this course draws on our extensive experience to provide a solid understanding of the core OO and Java concepts and practices needed to create well designed Java programs. It covers all the key OO capabilities and how to use them in Java, including material on creating well designed Java classes, using encapsulation, building more complex functionality with composition, and using inheritance to share functionality and create specialized types. It also covers more advanced concepts such as using interfaces, working with the Java Collections Framework, and accessing databases with JDBC.

This course is suitable for environments using either Java 5 or Java 6. The material includes coverage of all the new Java capabilities, such as Generic Collection classes, and clearly points out which capabilities are supported in which Java release. All labs are doable in any of the supported Java environments. This course is available for most IDEs, such as Eclipse and IBM RAD

Be prepared to work hard and learn a great deal! The course can be held on-site & customized to fit your needs.

Course Information

Duration: 5 days

Hands-on: 50% hands-on, 50% lecture

Supported Platforms: Java 5, Java 6, IBM RAD, Eclipse

Skills Gained:

Understand Java’s importance, uses, strengths and weaknesses
Understand Java language basics
Write, compile, and run Java programs
Understand the Object Model and Object Oriented Programming
Understand and use classes, inheritance, polymorphism
Create well designed classes and use them in your Java programs
Use composition and delegation to create objects from other objects
Understand & use packages to organize code
Understand interfaces, their importance, and their uses
Use interfaces to implement abstraction
Learn good Java coding style
Create well structured Java programs
Compile and execute programs with the Sun Java 2 development tools and with an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) of your choice
Use the core Java libraries (java.lang, java.util)
Understand & use exceptions for error handling
Understand the basics of using JDBC, and use it to access databases from Java
Use the Java 2 Collections Framework
Use the new features of Java 5/6
Understand and use basic I/O streams (Optional)

Course Details:

Session 1: A First Look

A Simple Java Class
Java’s “Hello World” Program
LABS:
- Hello World: A Simple Application

Session 2: Java Basics

Language and Patform Features
Program Life Cycle
The Java SE Development Kit (JDK)
LABS:
- Working with the Development Environment

Session 3: Class and Object Basics

The Object Model and Object-Oriented Programming
Classes, References, and Instantiation
Adding Data to a Class Definition
Adding Methods (Behavior)
LABS:
- Exporing Types and Object Instances
- Writing and Using a Class Definition with Fields and Methods

Session 4: More on Classes and Objects

Accessing data, the "this" variable
Encapsulation and Access Control, public and private Access
Constructors and Initialization
static Members of a Class
Scopes, Blocks, References to Objects
LABS:
- Encapsulation / Access Protection
- Writing and Using Constructors
- (Optional) Static Members
- Using the Debugger

Session 5: Flow of Control

Branching: if, if-else, switch
Iteration: while, do-while, for, break, continue
LABS:
- Flow of Control / Data Validation

Session 6: Strings and Arrays

String, StringBuffer, StringBuilder
Arrays, Primitive Arrays, Arrays of Reference Types
LABS:
- Using Strings and Arrays

Session 7: Packages

Package Overview - Using Packages to Organize Code
import statements
Creating Packages, package Statement, Required Directory Structure
Finding Classes, Packages and Classpath
LABS:
- Using Packages to Organize Code

Session 8: Composition and Inheritance

Using Composition to Deal With Complexity
Composition/HAS-A, Delegation
Using Inheritance and Polymorphism to share commonality
IS-A, extends, Inheriting Features, Overriding Methods, Using Polymorphism
Class Object
Abstract Classese
LABS:
- (Optional) Working with Composition
- Using Inheritance to Specialize Classes

Session 9: Interfaces

Using Interfaces to Define Types
Interfaces and Abstract Classes
LABS:
- Using Interfaces to Remove Implementation Dependencies

Session 10: Exceptions

Exceptions and the Exception Hierarchy
try and catch
Handling Exceptions
Program Flow with Exceptions
finally
LABS:
- Throwing and Handling Exceptions

Session 11: JDBC

JDBC basics
JDBC Architecture
Using JDBC drivers & DriverManager
Class Connection and connecting to a database
Class Statement and executing SQL statements
Other statement types
Driver types
LABS:
- Connecting and Querying using JDBC
- Inserting and Updating with JDBC

Session 12: Java 2 Collections Framework

The Collections Framework and its API
Collection, Set, List, Map, Iterator
Generics (Java 5) / Autoboxing
for-each Loop (Java 5)
Using ArrayList
Using HashMap
Processing Items With an Iterator
LABS:
- Using Collections

Session 13: Additional Java Features

Assertions
Type-safe Enums
Annotations
What's New in Java 6

Session 14: I/O Streams (Optional)

Readers and Writers
Filter Streams
InputStreams and OutputStreams
Converting Between Streams and Readers/Writers
New I/O (NIO) APIs
LABS:
- Using FileReader/FileWriter