LEARN JAVA GUI APPLICATIONS is a self-study and/or instructor led tutorial teaching the basics of building a Java application with a swing graphic user interface (GUI).

LEARN JAVA GUI APPLICATIONS has 9 lessons covering object-oriented programming concepts, using the NetBeans integrated development environment to create and test Java projects, building and distributing GUI applications, understanding and using the Swing control library, exception handling, sequential file access, graphics, multimedia, advanced topics such as printing, and help system authoring.

The focus of LEARN JAVA GUI APPLICATIONS is to use the existing objects and capabilities of the Java Swing library to build a wide variety of useful desktop applications. Some of the applications built include: Stopwatch, Calendar Display, Loan Repayment Calculator, Flash Card Math Game, Database Input Screen, Statistics Calculator, Tic-Tac-Toe Game, Capital City Quiz, Information Tracker (with plotting), Blackjack, Line, Bar and Pie charts, a version of the first video game ever – Pong, and a Telephone Directory.

LEARN JAVA GUI APPLICATIONS is presented using a combination of over 1,100 pages of color course notes and over 100 practical Java GUI examples and applications. To grasp the concepts presented in LEARN JAVA GUI APPLICATIONS, you should have had some exposure to Java programming concepts. We offer two beginning Java programming tutorials, BEGINNING JAVA and JAVA FOR KIDS that would help you gain this needed exposure.

This course requires Microsoft Windows, MAC OS X or Linux. To complete this tutorial, you will need to download the Java Development Kit (JDK11) Standard Edition (SE) from Oracle's website. This tutorial also uses NetBeans 11 as the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for building and testing Java applications which is available from Apache's website.

The Java source code and all needed multimedia files are included in this compressed digital download zip file.

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"20 Best Java Swing Books of All Time: - BookAuthority

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LEARN JAVA GUI APPLICATIONS – CUSTOMER COMMENTS:

“The Learn Java (GUI Applications) For High School Students topics are introduced progressively to ensure that students of different levels can progress at their own pace. Many exercises and problems are weaved into the chapters to maintain student interest and build confidenc​e. Overall, I appreciated your efforts to make the Java product user friendly.” - - Carly Orr, Computer Science Teacher, Vancouver BC.

“I recently bought LEARN JAVA and am amazed at how simple you make learning Java. I have been studying and teaching Java for three years and could not get anywhere. I was about to give up when I found your product.”​​ - - NN, Pretoria, South Africa

“Thank you so much for the tutorial. I think ‘brilliant’ goes some way to describing it.” - -JS, Sydney, Australia.

“I really enjoy your teaching method in LEARN JAVA. I look forward to continuing with your other products.” - - CK, Orlando, Florida.

“I believe your Java GUI programming book as one of the best and I enjoy learning from them. One of the things I like about your tutorials is that they teach you how to create and build sensible programs. That to me makes a lot of sense, rather than just to learn a bunch of Java basics, like what I see in other books .  I have really appreciated the books I bought from you. I will tell anyone about your publication because I am 100% certain they are simply the best! There are no other Java books like yours.” - Carvel Bell, Java Developer, Uniondale , NY

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Review by Alan Payne, Computer Science Teacher:

What is “Learn Java GUI: A JfC Swing Tutorial” … and how it works.

The lessons are a highly organized and well-indexed set of tutorials meant for high school students and young adults entering post-secondary studies in Computer Science. NetBeans, a specific IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is used to create GUI (Graphical User Interface applications) by employing the Swing Controls of Java Development Kit Version 11.

The tutorials provide the benefit of completed age-appropriate applications – fully documented projects from the teacher’s point of view. That is, while full solutions are provided for the instructor’s benefit, the projects are presented in an easy-to-follow set of lessons explaining object-oriented programming concepts, Java Swing controls, the rational for the form layout, coding design and conventions, and specific code related to the problem. Learners may follow tutorials at their own pace. Every bit of the lesson is remembered as it contributes to the final solution. The finished product is the reward, but the student is fully engaged and enriched by the process. This kind of learning is often the focus of teacher training. Every computer science teacher knows what a great deal of preparation is required for projects to work for senior students. With these tutorials, the research behind the projects is done by an author who understands the classroom experience. That is extremely rare!

Graduated Lessons for Every Project … Lessons, examples, problems and projects. Graduated learning. Increasing and appropriate difficulty… Great results.

With these projects, there are lessons providing a comprehensive, student-friendly background on the programming topics to be covered. Object-oriented concepts are stressed. Once understood, concepts are easily applicable to a variety of applications.

The “Learn Java GUI Applications” tutorials are organized by presenting relevant programming concepts first, fully drawn out examples second, followed by short problems where the student must recall the required programming concept with correct language syntax. Finally, exercises in the form of summative projects are presented at the end of the lesson. This graduated approach to problems leads to a high level of retention.

By presenting lessons in this graduated manner, students are fully engaged and appropriately challenged to become independent thinkers who can come up with their own project ideas and design their own GUIs and do their own coding. Once the process is learned, then student engagement is unlimited! I have seen literacy improve dramatically because students cannot get enough of what is being presented.

Indeed, lessons encourage accelerated learning – in the sense that they provide an enriched environment to learn computer science, but they also encourage accelerating learning because students cannot put the lessons away once they start! Computer science provides this unique opportunity to challenge students, and it is a great testament to the authors that they are successful in achieving such levels of engagement with consistency.

My History with Kidware Software products.

I have used Kidware’s Programming Tutorials for over a decade to keep up my own learning. By using these lessons, I am able to spend time on things which will pay off in the classroom. I do not waste valuable time ensconced in language reference libraries for programming environments – help screens which can never be fully remembered! These projects are examples of how student projects should be as final products – thus, the pathway to learning is clear and immediate in every project.

If I want to use or expand upon some of the projects for student use, then I take advantage of site-license options. I have found it very straight forward to emphasize the fundamental computer science topics that form the basis of these projects when using them in the classroom. I can list some computer science topics which everyone will recognize, regardless of where they teach – topics which are covered expertly by these tutorials:

* Data Types and Ranges

* Scope of Variables

* Naming Conventions

* Decision Making

* Looping

* Language Functions – String, Date, Numerical

* Arrays

* Writing Your own Methods (subroutines)

* Writing Your Own Classes (stressing object-oriented concepts)

* Understanding the Swing Controls in the Java Software Development Kit Version 7, for Java for GUI applications, and more… it’s all integrated into the tutorials.

In many States or Provinces, the above-listed topics would certainly be formally introduced in High School computer science, and would form the basis of most projects undertaken by students. With these tutorials, you as the teacher or parent may choose where to put the emphasis, to be sure to cover the curricular expectations of your curriculum documents.

Any further computer programming topics derive directly from those listed above. Nothing is forgotten. All can be integrated with the lessons provided.

Quick learning curve for teachers! How teachers can use the product:

Having projects completed ahead of time can allow the teacher to present the design aspect of the project FIRST, and then have students do all of their learning in the context of what is required in the finished product. This is a much faster learning curve than if students designed all of their own projects from scratch. Streamlined lessons focusing on a unified outcome engages students, as they complete more projects within a short period of time and there is a context for everything that is learned.

With the Learn Java GUI Applications tutorials, sound advice regarding generally accepted coding strategies (“build and test your code in stages”, “learn input, output, formatting and data storage strategies for different data types”, build graphical components from Java’s Swing Control class libraries, etc..) encourage independent thought processes among learners. After mastery, then it is much more likely that students can create their own problems and solutions from scratch. Students are ready to create their own summative projects for their computer science course – or just for fun, and they may think of projects for their other courses as well!

Meets State and Provincial Curriculum Expectations and More

Different states and provinces have their own curriculum requirements for computer science. With the Kidware Software products, you have at your disposal a series of projects which will allow you to pick and choose from among those which best suit your curriculum needs. Students focus upon design stages and sound problem-solving techniques from a computer-science, problem-solving perspective. Students become independent problem-solvers, and will exceed the curricular requirements of their computer science curriculum in all jurisdictions.

Useable projects – Out of the box!

The specific projects covered in the Learn Java GUI Applications tutorials are suitable for students in grades 11 to 12. Specific senior student-friendly tutorials and projects are found in the Contents document, and include:

Stop Watch Application

Calendar/Time Display

Savings Calculator

Computing a Mean and Standard Deviation

Flash Card Addition Problems

Password Validation Program

Pizza Ordering Program

Flight Planner

Customer Database Input Screen

Temperature Conversion Application

Image Viewer

Student Database Input Screen

Debugging Strategies

Reading and Writing Variables using Sequential Access Files

Reading and Writing Text using Sequential Access Files

Information Tracking

Recent Files Menu Option

Timers

Basic Animation

Graphics Applications such as Dice Rolling, Shapes, Pie Charts, Blackjack, Plotting

Multimedia Application in The Original Video Game of Pong

And more Swing controls in these applications:

Biorhythms, Loan Printing, Plot Printing, Note Editor, Phone Directory

As you can see, there is a high degree of care taken so that projects are age-appropriate, and completely appropriate for senior computer science.

How to teach students to use the materials.

In a school situation, teachers might be tempted to spend considerable amounts of time at the projector or computer screen going over the tutorial – but the best strategy is to present the finished product first! That way, provided that the teacher has covered the basic concepts listed in the table of contents, then students will quickly grasp how to use the written lessons on their own. Lessons will be fun, and the pay-off for younger students is that there is always a finished product which is fun to use!

Highly organized reference materials for student self-study!

Materials already condense what is available from the Java SDK help files (which tends to be written for adults) and in a context and age-appropriate manner, so that students remember what they learn.

The time savings for parents, teachers and students is enormous as they need not sift through pages and pages of on-line help to find what they need.

How to mark the projects.

In a classroom environment, it is possible for teachers to mark student progress by asking questions during the various problem design and coding stages. It is possible for teachers can make their own oral, pictorial review or written pop quizzes easily from the reference material provided as a review strategy from day to day. I have found the requirement of completing projects (mastery) sufficient for gathering information about student progress – especially in the later grades.

Lessons encourage your own programming extensions.

Once concepts are learned, it is difficult to NOT know what to do for your own projects. This is true especially at the High School level – where applications can be made in as short as 10 minutes (a high-low guessing game, or a temperature conversion program, for example), or 1 period in length – if one wished to expand upon any of the projects using the “Other Things to Try” suggestions.

Having used Kidware Software tutorials for the past decade, I have to say that I could not have achieved the level of success which is now applied in the variety of many programming environments which are currently of considerable interest to kids! I thank Kidware Software and its authors for continuing to stand for what is right in the teaching methodologies which work with kids – even today’s kids where competition for their attention is now so much an issue.

Alan Payne, B.A.H. , B.Ed.

TA Blakelock High School

Oakville, Ontario