Fast Track to Java™

Fast Track to Java 8 and OO Development provides a comprehensive introduction to Java suitable for programmers with existing programming experience. It can be taught to audiences with less experience by reducing coverage of the optional, more advanced topics.

Java is one of the most important programming languages used today, and its correct usage is a critical part of many systems being written now. The basics of the language are relatively easy, but the challenge lies in learning how to use it well. This is especially true regarding the Object-Oriented nature of Java, which for many developers is a new way of approaching system design and construction.

In addition to teaching you everything you need to become productive in basic Java programming, this course draws on our extensive experience to provide a solid understanding of the core OO and Java concepts and practices needed to create well designed Java programs. It covers all the key OO capabilities and how to use them in Java, including material on creating well designed Java classes, using encapsulation, building more complex functionality with composition, and using inheritance to share functionality and create specialized types. It also covers more advanced concepts such as using interfaces, working with the Java Collections Framework, and overviews of accessing databases with JDBC and JPA (including labs using JPA).

This course is suitable for environments using Java 8, but almost all the labs can also be done with Java 7. The material and labs include coverage of useful new Java capabilities such as default/static methods in interfaces, try-with-resources (Java 7), and lambda expressions. It also stresses the use of good coding practices for all the examples and labs. This course is available for most IDEs, such as Eclipse and IBM RAD

Be prepared to work hard and learn a great deal!

• Understand Java’s importance, uses, strengths and weaknesses
• Understand Java language basics
• Write, compile, and run Java programs
• Understand the Object Model and Object Oriented Programming
• Understand and use classes, inheritance, polymorphism
• Create well designed classes and use them in your Java programs
• Use composition and delegation to create objects from other objects
• Understand & use packages to organize code
• Understand interfaces, their importance, and their uses
• Use interfaces to implement abstraction
• Learn good Java coding style
• Create well structured Java programs
• Compile and execute programs with the JDK development tools and with an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) of your choice
• Use the core Java libraries (java.lang, java.util)
• Understand & use exceptions for error handling
• Understand the basics of using JDBC and JPA, and use them to access databases from Java
• Use the Java Collections Framework
• Be aware of, and use the new features of Java 8, as well as important advanced features of earlier Java versions
• Understand and use basic I/O streams (Optional)

Session 1: A First Look

• A Simple Java Class
• Java’s “Hello World” Program
• LABS:
  • Hello World: A Simple Application

Session 2: Java Basics

• Language and Platform Features
• Program Life Cycle
• The Java SE Development Kit (JDK)
• LABS:
  • Working with the Development Environment

Session 3: Class and Object Basics

• The Object Model and Object-Oriented Programming
• Classes, References, and Instantiation
• Adding Data to a Class Definition
• Adding Methods (Behavior)
• LABS:
  • Exploring Types and Object Instances
  • Writing and Using a Class Definition with Fields and Methods

Session 4: More on Classes and Objects

• Accessing data, the "this" variable
• Encapsulation and Access Control, public and private Access
• Constructors and Initialization
• static Members of a Class
• Scopes, Blocks, References to Objects
• Type-safe Enums
• LABS:
  • Encapsulation / Access Protection
  • Writing and Using Constructors
  • (Optional) Static Members
  • Using enums
  • Using the Debugger

Session 5: Flow of Control

• Branching: if, if-else, switch
• Iteration: while, do-while, for, break, continue
• LABS:
  • Flow of Control / Data Validation

Session 6: Strings and Arrays

• String, StringBuffer, StringBuilder
• Arrays, Primitive Arrays, Arrays of Reference Types
• varargs
• LABS:
  • Using Strings and Arrays

Session 7: Packages

• Package Overview - Using Packages to Organize Code
• import statements
• Creating Packages, package Statement, Required Directory Structure
• Finding Classes, Packages and Classpath
• LABS:
  • Using Packages to Organize Code

Session 8: Composition and Inheritance

• Using Composition to Deal With Complexity
• Composition/HAS-A, Delegation
• Using Inheritance and Polymorphism to share commonality
• IS-A, extends, Inheriting Features, Overriding Methods, Using Polymorphism
• Class Object
• Abstract Classes
• LABS:
  • (Optional) Working with Composition
  • Using Inheritance to Specialize Classes

Session 9: Interfaces

• Using Interfaces to Define Types
• Interfaces and Abstract Classes
• Default Methods and static Methods (Java 8)
• LABS:
  • Using Interfaces to Remove Implementation Dependencies

Session 10: Exceptions

• Exceptions and the Exception Hierarchy
• try and catch
• Handling Exceptions
• Program Flow with Exceptions
• finally
• LABS:
  • Throwing and Handling Exceptions

Session 11: Java Collections and Generics

• The Collections Framework and its API
• Collections and Java Generics
• Collection, Set, List, Map, Iterator
• Autoboxing
• Collections of Object (non-generic)
• Using ArrayList, HashSet, and HashMap
• for-each Loop
• Processing Items With an Iterator
• More About Generics
• LABS:
  • Using Lists and Generics
  • Using Sets

Session 12: Database Access with JDBC and JPA

• JDBC Overview
  • JDBC Architecture and API
  • Using DriverManager, Connection, Statement and ResultSet
• JPA Overview
  • JPA Architecture and Programming View
  • Entity Classes and Annotations
  • Mapping an Entity Class
  • EntityManagerFactory and EntityManager
  • Working with JPA (Find by primayry key and inserts)
• LABS:
  • Mapping an Entity Class
  • Working with JPA

Session 13: Additional Java Features

• Date/Time Support (Java 8)
• Assertions
• Annotations
• Lambda Expressions and Method References (Java 8)
• Additional Features

Session 14: I/O Streams (Optional)

• Readers and Writers
• Filter Streams
• Byte Streams
• Formatted Output
• The File Class
• New I/O (NIO) APIs
• LABS:
  • Formatting Output

Appendix: JDBC

• JDBC Overview
• JDBC Architecture and API
• Database Connections
• Issuing Statements and Processing Data