Think Java: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist

Currently used at many colleges, universities, and high schools, this hands-on introduction to computer science is ideal for people with little or no programming experience. The goal of this concise book is not just to teach you Java, but to help you think like a computer scientist. You’ll learn how to program—a useful skill by itself—but you’ll also discover how to use programming as a means to an end.

Authors Allen Downey and Chris Mayfield start with the most basic concepts and gradually move into topics that are more complex, such as recursion and object-oriented programming. Each brief chapter covers the material for one week of a college course and includes exercises to help you practice what you’ve learned.

• Learn one concept at a time: tackle complex topics in a series of small steps with examples
• Understand how to formulate problems, think creatively about solutions, and write programs clearly and accurately
• Determine which development techniques work best for you, and practice the important skill of debugging
• Learn relationships among input and output, decisions and loops, classes and methods, strings and arrays
• Work on exercises involving word games, graphics, puzzles, and playing cards

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. The Way of the Program
Chapter 2. Variables and Operators
Chapter 3. Input and Output
Chapter 4. Void Methods
Chapter 5. Conditionals and Logic
Chapter 6. Value Methods
Chapter 7. Loops
Chapter 8. Arrays
Chapter 9. Strings and Things
Chapter 10. Objects
Chapter 11. Classes
Chapter 12. Arrays of Objects
Chapter 13. Objects of Arrays
Chapter 14. Objects of Objects
Appendix A. Development Tools
Appendix B. Java 2D Graphics
Appendix C. Debugging