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Introduction to Computing and Programming with Java: A Multimedia Approach Review by D. W. Smith
Pictures and Dr Java are a powerful combination
I used this book to teach a college-level course in Java Programming this year. 70% of the students had taken a 'CS1' level course in Java, and I didn't want to bore them with the same examples. At the same time, the students new to Java needed to get over the syntax and OO hurdles.
The author introduces DrJava early in the book (chapter 2), and provides a set of simple classes that students extend by adding their own methods. The use of Turtle graphics (Turtle class) really helped students 'see' what was happening, and the Picture class allowed them to view and manipulate graphic images as well as learn about arrays.
The Picture class is used extensively, which allowed students to build their own set of methods to manipulate pictures, and use them in a big project to build a collage. Pictures provide a way to get interesting data into a program without reverting to using random() or keyboard input. DrJava allowed students to write their new methods in the 'Definitions' pane, and then test them using the 'Interactions' pane.
Integrating web pages using the URL class as the basis for File I/O is also a great idea. It connects programming to 'real' pages that the students can see in their browser.
The only concerns I have about teaching Java using this book are:
1) Strings are covered quite late and not very deeply (chapter 12)
2) No Swing GUI coverage (students want to write GUIs)
3) Late coverage of 'main' method (p. 366)
-- Students became somewhat dependent on DrJava's interactions pane to test their apps
4) Dependency of book classes for Picture handling
-- Students had to use the getBufferedImage method to display pics on a swing container
I was able to supplement with other GUI material to help students over some of these instead of covering sounds chapters.
Overall, the students did very well. Two-thirds of the students new to Java were able to follow and did very well. All of the students with previous Java experience did well. A few students that had struggled to pass the 'CS1' course showed significant improvement in the ability to complete complex projects.