Java Beginner (OCA) Training Course

Day OneJava Basics

Introduction

• Audience 
• Introductions 
• Course Objectives 
• Schedule 
• Lesson Format 
• Course Environment 
• How Do You Learn More After the Course? 
• Additional Resources 
• Summary 

What Is a Java Program?

• Objectives 
• Purpose of a Computer Program 
• Translating High-Level Code to Machine Code 
• Linked to Platform-Specific Libraries 
• Platform-Dependent Programs 
• Key Features of the Java Language 
• Java Is Platform-Independent 
• Java Programs Run In a Java Virtual Machine 
• Procedural Programming Languages 
• Java Is an Object-Oriented Language 
• Verifying the Java Development Environment 
• Examining the Installed JDK: The Tools
• Compiling and Running a Java Program 
• Compiling a Program 
• Executing (Testing) a Program 
• Output for a Java Program 
• Launch Single-File Source-Code Programs 

The Java Main Class

• Objectives 
• Java Classes 
• Program Structure 
• Java Packages 
• Java IDEs 
• The NetBeans IDE 
• Creating a Java Project 
• Creating a Java Class 
• Exercise 3-1:Creating a New Project and Java Class 
• Opening an Existing Java Project 
• Creating a New Java Package 
• The main Method 
• A main Class Example
• Output to the Console 
• Avoiding Syntax Errors
• Compiling and Running a Program by Using NetBeans 
• Exercise 3-2: Creating a main Method 

Variables

• Objectives 
• Variables 
• Variable Types 
• Naming a Variable
• Java SE 9: The Underscore Character Is Not a Legal Name 
• Uses of Variables 
• Examples: Variable Declaration and Initialization 
• String Concatenation 
• int and double Values
• Initializing and Assigning Numeric Values 
• Standard Mathematical Operators 
• Increment and Decrement Operators (++ and --) 
• Operator Precedence 
• Using Parentheses 

Day Two

Conditionals, Arrays, Loops

• Objectives
• Making Decisions 
• The if/else Statement 
• Boolean Expressions 
• Relational Operators 
• What If There Are Multiple Items in the Shopping Cart? 
• Introduction to Arrays 
• Array Examples 
• Array Indices and Length 
• Declaring and Initializing an Array 
• Accessing Array Elements 
• Loops 
• Processing a String Array 
• Using break with Loops 

Objects and Classes

• Object-Oriented Programming 
• Characteristics of Objects 
• Classes and Instances 
• The Customer Properties and Behaviors 
• The Components of a Class 
• Modeling Properties and Behaviors 
• Customer Instances 
• Object Instances and Instantiation Syntax 
• The Dot (.) Operator 
• Objects with Another Object as a Property 
• Accessing Objects by Using a Reference 
• Working with Object References 
• References to Different Objects 
• References and Objects in Memory 
• Assigning a Reference to Another Reference 
• Two References, One Object 
• Arrays Are Objects 
• Declaring, Instantiating, and Initializing Arrays 
• Storing Arrays in Memory 
• Storing Arrays of Object References in Memory
• Creating a Soccer Application 

Strings, Formatting Data, Data Types

• String Class 
• Concatenating Strings 
• String Method Calls with Primitive Return Values 
• String Method Calls with Object Return Values 
• Java API Documentation 
• indexOf Method Example 
• Use indexOf and substring Methods 
• StringBuilder Class
• StringBuilder Advantages over String for Concatenation (or Appending) 
• StringBuilder: Declare and Instantiate 
• StringBuilder Append 
• Primitive Data Types 
• Some New Integral Primitive Types 
• Floating Point Primitive Types 
• Textual Primitive Type 
• Java Language Trivia: Unicode 
• Constants 
• Modulus Operator 
• Combining Operators to Make Assignments 
• More on Increment and Decrement Operators 
• Increment and Decrement Operators (++ and ––) 
• Promotion 
• Caution with Promotion 
• Type Casting 
• Caution with Type Casting 
• Using Promotion and Casting 
• Compiler Assumptions for Integral and Floating Point Data Types 
• Automatic Promotion 
• Using a long 
• Using Floating Points 
• Floating Point Data Types and Assignment 

Creating and Using Methods

• Basic Form of a Method
• Calling a Method from a Different Class
• Caller and Worker Methods
• A Constructor Method 
• Writing and Calling a Constructor 
• Calling a Method in the Same Class 
• Method Arguments and Parameters 
• Method Parameter Examples 
• Method Return Types 
• Method Return Types Examples 
• Method Return Animation 
• Passing Arguments and Returning Values 
• More Examples 
• Code Without Methods 
• Better Code with Methods 
• Even Better Code with Methods 
• Variable Scope 
• Advantages of Using Methods 
• Declare a setColor Method 
• Static Methods and Variables 
• Example: Setting the Size for a New Item 
• Creating and Accessing Static Members 
• When to Use Static Methods or Fields 
• Some Rules About Static Fields and Methods 
• Static Fields and Methods Versus Instance Fields and Methods 
• Static Methods and Variables in the Java API 
• Examining Static Variables in the JDK Libraries 
• Using Static Variables and Methods: System.out.println 
• More Static Fields and Methods in the Java API 
• Converting Data Values 

Day Three

Encapsulation, Constructors

• What Is Access Control? 
• Access Modifiers 
• Access from Another Class 
• Passing an Object Reference 
• What If There Is a New Object? 
• A Shopping Cart Code Example 
• Passing by Value 
• Reassigning the Reference 
• Passing by Value 
• Method Overloading 
• Using Method Overloading 
• Method Overloading and the Java API 
• Overloading a setItemFields Method
• Another Example Using Access Control on Methods
• Encapsulation 
• Get and Set Methods 
• Why Use Setter and Getter Methods? 
• Setter Method with Checking 
• Using Setter and Getter Methods 
• Encapsulate a Class 
• Initializing a Shirt Object 
• Constructors 
• Shirt Constructor with Arguments 
• Default Constructor and Constructor with Args 
• Overloading Constructors 

More on Conditionals

• Objectives 
• Review: Relational Operators 
• Testing Equality Between String variables 
• Common Conditional Operators 
• Ternary Conditional Operator 
• Using the Ternary Operator 
• Exercise 10-1: Using the Ternary Operator 
• Handling Complex Conditions with a Chained if Construct 
• Determining the Number of Days in a Month 
• Chaining if/else Constructs 
• Exercise 10-2: Chaining if Statements 
• Handling Complex Conditions with a switch Statement 
• Coding Complex Conditions: switch 
• switch Statement Syntax 
• When to Use switch Constructs 

Arrays, Loops, and Dates

• Displaying a Date 
• Class Names and the Import Statement 
• Working with Dates 
• Working with Different Calendars 
• Some Methods of LocalDate 
• Working with an IDE Debugger 
• Debugger Basics 
• Setting Breakpoints 
• The Debug Toolbar 
• Viewing Variables 
• Formatting Dates 
• Using the args Array in the main Method 
• Converting String Arguments to Other Types 
• Pass Arguments to the args Array in NetBeans 
• Describing Two-Dimensional Arrays 
• Declaring a Two-Dimensional Array 
• Instantiating a Two-Dimensional Array 
• Initializing a Two-Dimensional Array 
• Some New Types of Loops 
• Repeating Behavior 
• Coding a while Loop 
• A while Loop Example 
• while Loop with Counter 
• Coding a Standard for Loop 
• Standard for Loop Compared to a while loop 
• Standard for Loop Compared to an Enhanced for Loop 
• do/while Loop to Find the Factorial Value of a Number 
• Coding a do/while Loop 
• Comparing Loop Constructs 
• The continue Keyword 
• Nesting Loops 
• Nested for Loop 
• Nested while Loop 
• Processing a Two-Dimensional Array 
• Output from Previous Example 
• ArrayList Class 
• Benefits of the ArrayList Class 
• Importing and Declaring an ArrayList
• Working with an ArrayList 

Day Four

Inheritance, Polymorphism

• Duke’s Choice Classes: Common Behaviors 
• Code Duplication 
• Inheritance 
• Inheritance Terminology 
• Implementing Inheritance 
• More Inheritance Facts 
• Clothing Class: Part 1 
• Shirt Class: Part 1 
• Constructor Calls with Inheritance 
• Inheritance and Overloaded Constructors 
• Creating a Subclass
• More on Access Control 
• Overriding Methods 
• Review: Duke’s Choice Class Hierarchy 
• Clothing Class
• Shirt Class
• Overriding a Method: What Happens at Run Time? 
• Overriding a Method in the Superclass 
• Polymorphism 
• Superclass and Subclass Relationships 
• Using the Superclass as a Reference 
• Polymorphism Applied 
• Accessing Methods Using a Superclass Reference 
• Casting the Reference Type 
• instanceof Operator 
• Using the instanceof Operator
• Abstract Classes 
• Extending Abstract Classes

Interfaces

• The Object Class 
• Calling the toString Method 
• Overriding toString in Your Classes 
• The Multiple Inheritance Dilemma 
• The Java Interface 
• No Multiple Inheritance of State 
• Multiple Hierarchies with Overlapping Requirements 
• Using Interfaces in Your Application 
• Implementing the Returnable Interface 
• Access to Object Methods from Interface 
• Casting an Interface Reference 
• Benefits 
• Where Can it be Used? 
• Why is The Scope So Narrow? 
• Local Variable Type Inference 
• The Collections Framework
• ArrayList Example
• List Interface 
• Example: Arrays.asList 
• Converting an Array to an ArrayList
• Modifying a List of Names 
• Using a Lambda Expression with replaceAll 
• Lambda Expressions 
• The Enhanced APIs That Use Lambda
• Lambda Types 
• The UnaryOperator Lambda Type
• The Predicate Lambda Type 

Handling Exceptions

• What Are Exceptions?
• Examples of Exceptions 
• Code Example 
• Another Example 
• Types of Throwable classes 
• Error Example: OutOfMemoryError 
• Normal Program Execution: The Call Stack
• How Exceptions Are Thrown
• Working with Exceptions in NetBeans
• The try/catch Block 
• Program Flow When an Exception Is Caught
• When an Exception Is Thrown
• Throwing Throwable Objects
• Uncaught Exception 
• Exception Printed to Console 
• Summary of Exception Types 
• Catching an Exception 
• Exceptions in the Java API Documentation
• Calling a Method That Throws an Exception
• Working with a Checked Exception 
• Bad Practices 
• Somewhat Better Practice 
• Multiple Exceptions 
• Catching IOException 
• Catching IllegalArgumentException 
• Catching Remaining Exceptions 

Day Five