Previously on CS399J...

I had a really awesome group in Winter 2007. Here's what they had to say.

1. What do you wish you had known before taking this course?
• I was somewhat familiar with the topics before taking this course.
• Better OO mental flexibility
• I would have liked to have more object oriented coding experience.
• JUnit testing -- wow. This would have made the time shorter to cuento [sic] my projects if I could have integrated JUnit testing earlier on... It's a great tool!!! JUnit testing is an in invaluable concept!
• My own limitations - ha, ha. But really how much work/time I would need for it.
• How Java UI's are put together
• More Java
• Basic Java. I started not knowing OOP and it was difficult learning both the OOP and Java at the same time.
• Surprisingly nothing. This class is a perfect fir to my previous Java knowledge and experience. This class improved my Java skills significantly. I'm glad I've taken it.
• I can't really think of anything. I'd done enough doinking with Java that the first few lectures were review.
• What is the most important thing you have learned in CS399J?
• To start projects well ahead of due time
• The basics of the language and object hierarchy
• Mostly just getting back into the coding mindset. I'm sure [it] will be a big help for my internship next term.
• JUnit testing. The stuff with GUI, Swing, and AWT. XML file stuff, SAX API, DOM API. Server stuff: Serializable, sockets, ObjectOutputStreams, ObjectInputStreams.
• Objects -- this was the first time I had dealt with this many Objects and abstraction.
• Java UI Work
• How to use the javadocs
• Class structure of Java Programs. The whole OOP concept has already proved to be valuable with the Alloy language in my formal methods class.
• Java is all about API. Check the net before writing some program - the functionality you're looking for is likely to be already written and under GPL.
• Probably how crappy Java's XML support is. It's got to be the worst library I've used for parsing XML.
• If you could give one piece of advice to someone taking this course in the future, what would it be?
• To start projects well ahead of due time
• Allocate lots of time to studying and projects
• Be very mindful of your workload. Expect to take maybe one other upper division CS class and that's it. 3 upper division CS classes including this is not reasonable. (unless you don't mind eating, sleeping, and coding only!)
• Heavy on the project side, take a light load but take it before CS 321 and CS 322 -- compilers and languages. However, I think it is doable to do 321 or 322 at the same time.
• Be prepared, don't procrastinate.
• Pay attention and start your work early
• Hit the ground running. The assignments never let up.
• Spend time programming with Java before taking the class. Have time set aside for the programming projects.
• Know yourself, know your current Java programming level. Read class web page, see example projects and decide if you're ready for the class. Hint: if you think you're 70-80% ready, it's perfect fit to start the class.
• Start on the projects early and get them turned in ahead of time. The early ones are much easier than the later ones and you'll want the extra time.
• What made you stay in this course?
• I was interested in seeing and using technologies that we covered in class.
• Oh, I was very motivated to get as much as possible
• I knew I was going to get a lot of good programming experience, and get back into the coding mindset.
• Needed a code intensive class [to] practice my programming skills. And an interest in really digging into the intermediate to advanced aspects of an OOP language.
• I paid money for it...and it is interesting stuff and useful the Java API.
• I like Java and I appreciate the structured flow of the course
• Every class I would learn something new (and I need the credit).
• The instructor with real-world experience. The program assignments were geared for real-world work and not just theory.
• All projects were known ahead of time. I read them and decided that those are things I want to learn.
• I knew enough about Java that it was relatively easy in spite of how long the projects took. That and I liked the way that the majority of the work is project driven.

Need more? There are lots more comments from previous terms.