AP Computer Science A Triad Math and Science Academy, Greensboro, NC

Course Design:
The proposed syllabus is for a two-semester course, assuming 30 weeks are available prior to the AP exam. The course meets for five 45-minute class periods per week. The course includes several individual programming projects assigned for one or two weeks each. The time after the AP CS Exam is devoted to a team project and enrichment activities. The course includes an optional enrichment unit on files, graphics, and GUI, which is not required for the AP exam.

Software
Java JDK 7 with Netbeans or Eclipse

Grading Policy
Projects & Assignments: 30% Tests: 40% Quizzes: 30%

Course Objectives:
Understand and apply the main principles of object-oriented software design and programming: classes and objects, constructors, methods, instance and static variables, inheritance, class hierarchies, and polymorphism Learn to code fluently in Java in a well-structured fashion and in good style; learn to pay attention to code clarity and documentation Learn to use Java library packages and classes within the scope of the AP Java subset Understand the concept of an algorithm; implement algorithms in Java using conditional and iterative control structures and recursion. Learn to select appropriate algorithms and data structures to solve a given problem. Compare efficiency of alternative solutions to a given problem. Learn common searching and sorting algorithms: Sequential Search and Binary Search; Selection Sort, Insertion Sort, and Mergesort Understand one- and two-dimensional arrays, the List interface, and the ArrayList class, and use them appropriately in programming projects Acquire skills in designing object-oriented software solutions to problems from various application areas Learn the GridWorld case study and accompanying exercises and questions provided by the College Board Discuss ethical and social issues related to the use of computers Prepare for the AP exam in computer science

Texts and Supplementary Materials:

Litvin, Maria, and Gary Litvin. Java Methods: Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures, 2nd AP Edition, Andover, Mass.: Skylight Publishing, 2011 Litvin, Maria, and Gary Litvin. Be Prepared for the AP Computer Science Exam in Java, 4th Edition, Andover, Mass.: Skylight Publishing, 2009 Litvin, Maria, and Gary Litvin. 250 Multiple-Choice Computer Science Questions in Java. Andover,

Mass.: Skylight Publishing, 2008 The College Boards GridWorld case study, Parts 1-4 The College Boards GridWorld Student Manual codingbat.com: http://codingbat.com/java Current media sources and Internet articles and blogs discussing ethical and social issues related to computer use Past AP Computer Science released FRQ items

Teacher Materials:
The College Boards Computer Science A Course Description The College Boards GridWorld Teacher Manual AP Central resources Java Methods student files, teacher files, Powerpoints, Test Package, additional resources at http://www.skylit.com/javamethods and http://www.skylit.com/oop

Summer Precursory Units (1 week total):

Unit i: An introduction to applied computer science (Week 1-2; duration 8 days) Opening discussions defining the field(s) of Computer Science Universities (UCSD, SDSU, USD) class/major offerings Non Computer Science department requirements/recommendations for CS studies Societal dependencies and usages Communications (verbal and data) Defense Manufacturing Education Law Enforcement Medicine Toys & Gaming Simulations and Simulators Embedded systems, mobile and stand-alone applications Real time feed applications Cross discipline applications Students will research an example of both ethical/socially useful and unethical use of programs or programming systems in a class presentable paper and discussion

Unit ii: An introduction to logical and computational thinking (Week 2-3; duration 7 days) Practice with Scratch/Alice exercises and lab units Algorithm development ( e.g., http://projecteuler.net ) Unit iii: Potential visitations with researchers in CS: UCSD San Diego Supercomputer Center, Qualcomm, U.S. Navy tours (Week 1; duration 1 day) The San Diego Computer Science Teachers Association ( http://sandiegocsta.org ) formed a partnership with UCSDs Supercomputer Center for Education. The Center hosts camps in various disciplines for local high school students each summer. Students will tour UCSD SDSC, Qualcomm and Naval research facilities.

Course Outline for Standard Year (30 + 2 weeks total):

Chapter numbers for readings and exercises refer to Java Methods, 2nd AP Edition. The labs, case studies, and projects proposed below come from Java Methods and serve only as examples of possible assignments; the teachers favorites may be used instead. GridWorld refers to the College Boards GridWorld case study narrative. Unit 1: An introduction to computers and software engineering (2 weeks) 1. An Introduction to hardware, software and the Internet (Week 1; duration 1 week) Elements of a computer system How information is represented in computer memory Binary and hex number systems and ASCII / Unicode An introduction to the Internet Scratch/Alice/Karel sample practice

Reading and exercises: Chapter 1 Lab: Find and explore the home pages of some Internet and World Wide Web pioneers Lab: Write a one-page paper on an area of interest that you would like to be part of in computer science defining a need that can be addressed with a computer program 2. An Introduction to Software Engineering (Week 2; duration 1 week) Getting familiar with the software development process Compilers and interpreters JDK tools (javac, java, appletviewer, javadoc) Running a Java program in a command-line environment (optional) Using an IDE Java classes and source files A brief introduction to OOP

Reading and exercises: Chapter 2 Lab: Compile and run simple programs using Eclipse (Section 2.4) Lab: Compile and run simple GUI applications and an applet (Section 2.6) Unit 2: Objects, algorithms, and syntax (7 weeks) 3. A first look at objects and classes using the GridWorld context (Weeks 3-5; duration 2.5 weeks) Classes and objects Classes and source files Case study: GridWorld CRC cards Library classes and packages The import statement A first look at fields, constructors, and methods of a class Inheritance Extending library classes

Reading and exercises: Chapter 3 & GridWorld Student Manual Parts 1 and 2 Lab: Set up the first GridWorld project and run BugRunner Lab: Interacting with actors in GridWorld (Section 3.4) Lab: A new type of actor: RandomBug (Section 3.7) Lab: Circle and Cylinder classes (Exercise 12, p. 74) 4. Algorithms (Weeks 5-6; duration 1.5 week) The concept of an algorithm Pseudocode and flowcharts Iterations Recursion Working with lists Case study: Euclids GCF Algorithm (Most of the exercises for this chapter are pencil- andpaper exercises)

Reading and exercises: Chapter 4 Lab: Print stars using iterations and recursion (Exercise 10, p. 102) 5. Java syntax and style (Week 7; duration 1 week) Syntax and style in a programming language Comments Reserved words and programmer-defined names Statements, braces, blocks, indentation Syntax errors, run-time errors, logic errors

Reading and exercises: Chapter 5; Appendix A Lab: Correcting syntax errors and a logic error as an adventure game (Section 5.6) Unit 3: Arithmetic, logic, and control statements (6 weeks) 6. Data types, variables, and arithmetic (Weeks 8-9; duration 2 weeks) The concepts of a variable and a data type Declarations of variables Fields vs. local variables The primitive data types:int, double and char Literal and symbolic constants Initialization of variables Scope of variables Arithmetic expressions and Data types in arithmetic expressions The cast operator The compound assignment (+=, etc.) and increment and decrement pre/post operators (++, --) Converting numbers and objects into strings

Reading and exercises: Chapter 6 Lab: Exercises for Chapter 6 (for example, 16, 17, 18, pp. 153-154) Lab: Pie Chart (Section 6.10) Lab: Rainbow (Exercise 19, p. 155)

7.

The if-else statement (Weeks 10-11; duration 2 weeks) The if-else statement Boolean expressions, the boolean data type, true and false values Relational and logical operators De Morgans laws Short-circuit evaluation Nested if-elseandif-else-if CaseStudy: Craps. Elements of object-oriented design in Craps The switch statement. enum data types

Reading and exercises: Chapter 7 Lab: Exercises for Chapter 7 (for example, 2, 11, 14-17) Lab: The CrapsGame class for Craps: fill in the blanks and test in isolation (Section 7.9) Lab: Finishing and testing the Craps program (Section 7.12) Extra:codingbat.com Logic-1 and Logic-2 8. Iterative statements (Weeks 12-13; duration 2 weeks) while, for, and do-while loops break and return in loops Reading and exercises: Chapter 8 Lab: Exercises for Chapter 8 (for example, 1 - 3, p. 212) Lab: Perfect Numbers (Section 8.6) Unit 4: Classes and class hierarchies (7 weeks) 9. Details of defining classes and using objects (Weeks 14-16; duration 2.5 weeks) Public and private fields and methods Constructors and the new operator References to objects Calling methods and accessing fields Passing parameters to constructors and methods return statement Overloaded methods Static variables and methods

Reading and exercises: Chapter 9 Lab: Snack Bar Lab: GridWorld exercises for Part 2 (page 12) Lab: Snack Bar Continued 10. Strings (Weeks 16-17; duration 1.5 week) String objects Literal strings Immutability String methods

 Converting strings into numbers and numbers into strings The Character class and its methods Reading and exercises: Chapter 10 Lab: Lipograms (Section 10.8) Extra: codingbat.com String-1, String-2, String-3

11.

Class hierarchies, abstract classes, and interfaces (Weeks 18-20; duration 3 weeks) Class hierarchies Abstract classes Invoking superclasss constructors and calling superclasss methods Polymorphism Interfaces

Reading and exercises: Chapter 11, GridWorld Part 3 Lab: A GridWorld Dance (Section 11.6) Lab: Past AP free-response questions on class hierarchies and polymorphism Lab: Creating a subclass of Actor, GridWorld Part 3 group activity (GridWorld Student Manual p. 24) Unit 5: Arrays, the List interface, the ArrayList class, searching and sorting (8 weeks) 12. One- and Two-Dimensional Arrays (Weeks 21-22; duration 2 weeks) One-dimensional arrays Arrays as objects Declaring and initializing Indices Length IndexOutOfBounds Exception Two-dimensional arrays Accessing the number of rows and columns Traversals and the for-each loop Inserting and removing elements

Reading and exercises: Chapter 12 Lab: Fortune Teller (Section 12.3) Lab: Past free-response questions on arrays Lab: Chomp (Section 12.5). Extra: codingbat Arrays-1, Arrays-2, Arrays-3 13. ArrayLists and GridWorld Critters (Weeks 23-24; duration 2 weeks) ArrayLists structure The List interface ArrayLists constructors and methods Pitfalls & common mistakes ArrayLists in GridWorld

Reading and exercises: Chapter 13, GridWorld Student manual Part 4 Lab: Creating an Index for a Document (Section 13.5)

Lab: Past AP free-response questions on ArrayList Lab: GridWorld Part 4 exercises (GridWorld Student Manual, p. 32) Lab: GridWorld Critters (Section 13.6) 14. Searching and sorting. Introduction to analysis of algorithms (Weeks 25-26; duration 2 weeks) Comparing objects The equals method and the Comparable interface Sequential and BinarySearch: SelectionSort, InsertionSort, andMergesort The java.util.Randomclass The number of comparisons required in Sequential and Binary Search Comparison of efficiency of quadratic sorting algorithms (Selection Sort and Insertion Sort) vs. Mergesort

Reading and exercises: Chapter 14 Lab: Chapter 14 exercises (for example, 4, 9 pp. 408-409) Lab: Keeping Things in order (Section 14.4) Lab: Benchmarks (Section 14.9) compares efficiency of several sorting algorithms. Unit 6: Review (4 weeks) 15. GridWorld review (Weeks 27-28; duration 1.5 weeks) Review of the GridWorld classes and interfaces Modifications and exercises Reading and exercises: GridWorld Parts 1-4; Be Prepared Chapter 6 Labs: GridWorld Enhancements (from suggested exercises for Part 4, p. 32, and Be Prepared). 16. Review and practice for the AP exam (Weeks 28-30; duration 2.5 weeks)

Reading for Review: Be Prepared Chapters 1-5 Be Prepared Chapter 7 (past free-response questions and solutions) Be Prepared practice exams 250 Multiple-Choice Computer Science Questions FRQs from past AP Computer Science exams Unit 7: After the AP exam (@ 2 Weeks) Candidate subjects for final weeks Mobile programming IDE (Android or iOS) introduction Student presentations and debates on ethical and social issues related to the use of computers, Internet, based on the readings from the print media and the Internet Other suggested activities: a team project to implement a game (for example, the Game of SET, http://www.skylit.com/oop or a project based on GridWorld); a potentially useful project for the school