Course Outline

PRE-REQUISITE:

Information Technology 11 with a demonstrated aptitude in the programming module. It is recommended that students enroll in the career preparation program, to gain 100 hours of work experience in the Information Technology field.

DESCRIPTION:

Computer Science AP is a university-level option open to students who have demonstrated strong skills and knowledge in Java programming. Learners will prepare throughout the year for an international exam written in May of their academic year. Successful students will obtain four Grade 12 Science credits and may receive advanced placement or credit at universities throughout North America. This is an introductory level course in Java programming. While no previous experience in the Java programming language is required, completion of Information Technology 11 is a prerequisite.

This course is delivered entirely online with the exception of a Midterm and Final exam. The teacher's role is to facilitate the students' learning activities, and provide mentoring through synchronous and asynchronous communications tools. Examples of our online learning activities can be found at http://ILearnITOnline.com. Students requesting a seat in this course should be active learners, interested in computer programming and willing to accept responsibility for his/her own learning.

COURSE TEXT: Thinking in Java, 3rd Edition Author: Bruce Eckel Publisher: Prentice-Hall, June 2000

COURSE CONTENT:

Topics	Reference
Learning Online Downloading and preparing your online tools Making acquaintances and finding your way about	Teacher's notes and online references
Java Basics The Java Programming Language Writing a basic program Numeric input Variables and Objects Operators Introduction to Swing	Chapter 1 Teacher's notes and online references
String Manipulation The String class Substrings Changing case Concatenation Working with characters String class methods The StringBuffer class	Chapter 2
Selection if statements Nested conditionals Compound statements More on operators Order of Evaluation boolean variables The conditional operator switch statements	Chapter 3
Iteration for statements while statements do..while statements Nested loops	Chapter 4
Methods Exploring methods Local variables Invoking methods boolean methods void methods Overloading	Chapter 5
Classes Exploring classes Modifiers Constructors Class invariants Identity, Equality, and Equivalence Wrapper classes	Chapter 6
Composition and Inheritance Composition Recursive classes Inheritance Overriding class hierarchies The object class	Chapter 7
Arrays and Vectors Character arrays Arrays in Java The vector class Two-Dimensional arrays Encapsulation Data Abstraction and ADT	Chapter 8 Teacher's notes and online references
Graphics The AWT libraries The Frame, Color, Button, and TextField classes Components Managing Layouts Event-Driven Programming	Chapter 9
Applets, Threads, and Exceptions Applets The Applet class The Thread CLASS Exceptions Exploring Files and Streams	Chapter 10 Teacher's notes and online references
The Marine Biology Case Study Read source code written by someone else. Work with a program of significant length. Become familiar with good coding, design, and documentation practice. Learn about testing in a non-trivial context. Think through design and implementation tradeoffs. Experience an approximation of the master/apprentice relationship.	Teacher's notes and online references

EVALUATION:

Students' assignments and projects will be evaluated using portfolio assessment. The students will be brought together twice during the academic year to write a midterm and final exam in a district facility. Online participation in discussion forums, asynchronous chat sessions, and peer evaluations will be rated by their content and contribution to the learning community.

Online Participation (20%), Assignments/Projects (30%), Midterm Exam (15%), Final Exam (35%)