Good Bye to Hello World — An Interactive Approach to Java

ABSTRACT: Many programming courses start with a small isolated “Hello World ” example that gradually extends, as the course discusses the various programming aspects, but still remains an isolated monolithic program with little chance for structure and design. In modern applications, programming is rather a way of integrating several ready made solutions, add some flavor of own invention and build a powerful, distributed, and highly interactive solution. This is especially true for software engineering as a discipline. In Heilbronn, we adapted Lynn A. Stein’s “Interactive Programming in Java ” which is a revolution in teaching programming for undergraduates and implemented at the MIT. Our introductory course to programming spans a whole year and develops a a simple and powerful application example — which is interactive from the start — towards a comfortable fully grown simulation that includes database access and a graphical user interface. The course bases on carefully designed code examples that are revealed throughout the year to the more and more advanced students. This paper discusses the didactical, technical and implementation concepts and experiences so far, which bases on two classes (in two different departments) and overall 60 Students.