Previously on CS410J...

This term we completely changed the format of the course. No more boring in-class lectures. Instead the lectures were posted on YouTube and we pair programmed and did live coding during class time.

1. What do you wish you had known before taking this course?
• Not much, I thought I was pretty well prepared for it.
• Once we got to the GWT material, I wished I would have tried GWT before taking the class and knowing the basics of GWT would have allowed me to make my project 5 better.
• More test driven development, it really isn't properly introduced until cs 300 and even then its not focused on.
• A little GUI/Web development
• I wish I had more experience with REST and just more programming experience.
• Source code management, such as GIT. I know a little from my Capstone project, but it would have been nice to be more familiar with it. Otherwise, I felt like the knowledge I came in with served me well enough.
• Basic Java programming knowledge, can finish some simply work with Java.
• More experience with java would be great, but I think I did pretty well writing all the projects.
• I guess if I had known GWT before the class I would have done better on the GWT quiz, but then, I could probably have done better just by actually learning about GWT/doing the project before doing the quiz.
2. What is the most important thing you have learned in CS410J?
• Some Java design patterns, as well as a grasp on doing some web development in a "general purpose" programming language.
• Playing around with different schemes of input validation, error checking and exception handling in the five projects. In general, the projects were very well designed and I learned a ton in working through them.
• Lots! How to work with servers and clients, how to properly document code, Test driven development.
• I feel more confident in my skills as a Java programmer. Come up with a plan of attack, so when I am focusing on the hard tasks, I don't have to worry if I am getting off track as much.
• The most important thing I have learned is how to do test driven development. It seems like a great way to think about what needs to be coded and can help keep you from getting stuck or losing track of where you were in the coding process
• Mostly the various non-language specific programming practices, like how to use a project building tool such as Maven, test-driven development, and some of the features of Java that are common in most object-oriented languages. While we learned a lot of language specific information, we also learned about *a lot* of techniques and language implementation practices that aren't necessarily specific to Java--it could have been simply called "Advanced Programming", in some ways, with the perk that we also really got in depth into Java.
• How to learn by yourself and how to communicate with others.
• I never took CS399J, but I learned a ton of important things in CS410J! The final project has me very interested in continuing development in Java with GWT.
• Java has no standard library support for JSON serialization, but it does have XML serialization.
3. If you could give one piece of advice to someone taking this course in the future, what would it be?
• Start the projects early, you never know what's going to trip you up.
• Start the projects as early as possible. Since there is only a week between turning in each projects, if you start too late you can not take your time to expand your skills and learn but need to rush to finish.
• Enjoy it and make sure your familiar with Java in the beginning.
• Start getting used to programming in Java. If you need a basic Java refresher don't wait til class begins.
• Watch all of the videos multiple times. Pause them and let the information sink in. Make sure you give yourself lots of time to work on the projects in the second half of the course.
• Start early on projects and koans. I didn't necessarily think that they weren't doable without starting really early, but they were flexible enough projects such as starting early allowed for opportunities to take the time to try out different implementations and really dig into the Java and (later) GWT APIs. In the case of the koans, starting early allows time to ponder and (in some cases) look up the various classes being demonstrated without being tempted to "rush" through the exercises. Also, look online during the week or so preceding the start of the term and watch a few of the screencasts on YouTube--I did this and it really set me up nicely to take this course.
• Finish your dinner before the class and prepare well for the class.
• Be prepared to write a lot of code!
• It's not advanced enough. Oh, and make sure to submit programs by SSHing into the CS lab computers, because when I built the grader program and ran it locally it didn't send out my submissions despite providing a success message.
4. What made you stay in this course?
• I enjoyed the programming assignments. I thought they were challenging, but all doable. I liked that our grade was mostly the projects, and that the focus of the class was programming. You didn't try and jam theory down our throats, or make us learn a bunch of stuff we would never use in the assignments.
• Though I never did consider dropping this course, since this course was challenging, it was encouraging to get project feedback throughout the course to reassure that I was not in over my head.
• The focus placed on project development.
• The desire to graduate :) plan of attacks helped me focus.
• I really like the subject and feel like I am learning a lot. The examples and in class coding are very helpful for people who have less experience writing software.
• Everything, really. Primarily the content itself, but also the level of organization of the course material and projects, as well as having the feeling that the instructor actually cared about our level of learning. Some of the extra perks, such as learning test-driven development and paired programming, were nice incentives as well. I really appreciated taking this course from someone who also works in industry. Finally, having the screencasts was *invaluable* for me, as I prefer a straight lecture without the distractions of questions or real-time interruptions--that way the class sessions could be used for said questions as well as supplemental activities, such as paired programming and studying test-driven development.
• Teacher is humorous and classmates are nice.
• The projects were fun and challenging.
• It's my second to last class before graduating, and if I pass it my employer will foot the bill for the tuition.

Want to hear what other people had to say? There are lots more comments from previous terms.