Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics
Bloomsburg University

Graphical User Interfaces in Java

Spring 2012
Section 1: MW 9:00-10:50 in Navy 220
Section 2: TR 9:00-10:50 in Navy 220

Professor: Drue Coles
Email: dcoles@bloomu.edu
Phone: 389-4626
Office: 235 Ben Franklin Hall
Office Hours: MW 1:30-3:00 and TR 1:00-2:00

Text: Big Java, 4th edition, Cay Horstmann, John Wiley & Sons, 2010.

Prerequisite: Object-Oriented Programming with Java. You should already be able to write syntactically correct and properly documented Java code using a professional IDE. In particular, you should be able to use classes in the standard Java Platform API and apply basic principles of object-orientation in the implementation of your own classes.

Overview. This course introduces two cornerstones of object-oriented programming: inheritance and polymorphism. We explore these concepts in the design and implementation of graphical user interfaces (GUIs)—software systems that receive input from the user through buttons, menus, mouse events, sliders, spinners, and so on. We also study exception handling and file I/O, two topics of general importance for which a good understanding of inheritance is needed.

Outcomes. This course supports one of the major learning outcomes for the computer science major, namely expertise in at least two object-oriented languages. Upon completion of the course, you will be able to write significant Java applications using arrays, design and use classes in an inheritance hierarchy, understand polymorphism and event handling, construct GUIs using Swing components and layout managers, design and use exception classes, and perform basic file I/O.