🚀 go-pugleaf

I don't mean having the class be "VisualAge and Java"; What I mean is
having the class be slightly assisted by VAJ. They still write code, but
it helps separate the Java concepts from the file system, and the VCE
could help them concentrate on layout management rather than taking all
the time to type

  Panel p = new Panel(new BorderLayout());
  Button north  = new Button("North");
  Button south  = new Button("South");
  Button east   = new Button("East");
  Button west   = new Button("West");
  Button center = new Button("Center");
  p.add(north,  BorderLayout.NORTH);
  p.add(south,  BorderLayout.SOUTH);
  p.add(east,   BorderLayout.EAST);
  p.add(west,   BorderLayout.WEST);
  p.add(center, BorderLayout.CENTER);

And that's just a simple example -- I have them recreate the
(hideously-complex) GUI for WsFTP after I teach layouts...


I've been teaching Java for two years now, the entire time teching it as
code. However, the last several public "intro to java" courses that I've
taught, I used VAJ basically just as an editor.
(Of course I always ask if anyone has an objection...)

Anyway, this has seriously helped one big problem: the initial Java vs.
the file system confusion.

With VAJ, of course, there are no files. This allows the students to
concentrate on the java _concepts_ (class, interface, package) rather
than the particular implementation of a JDK. After they have done
several labs in VAJ (all writing code by hand) and I lecture about how
packages just happen to be laid out in the file system, I show them how
to export the code and compile it in the JDK.

This has gone great every time, really helping them to see that the
names/values of files/dirs/CLASSPATH are directly derived from the Java
constructs, rather than the other way around.


The new thing I want to try is using the VCE for _just_ drawing GUIs.

The big problem I'm seeing is that folks spend too much time in labs
writing GUI code, rather than using the GUI _concepts_.

I'd still teach them the code, but I feel it's much more important that
they practice the design of the GUI using layout managers. It also
provides a fantastic example of how JavaBeans are used.


My goal when teaching is to make sue they understand the concepts well;
they can always look up the exact method calls later (not to mention
many of them will probably use some sort of GUI builder anyway).

--
-- Scott

============================================================
Scott Stanchfield     Santa Cruz, CA
    http://www.jguru.com/thetick        thetick@jguru.com
MageLang Institute - We Serve the Best Java Education!
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