This lecture explains the purpose of the module, discusses teaching and assessment arrangements and identifies useful tools and resources. It introduces the Java programming language and highlights some of the ways in which it differs from C. Finally, it presents some small examples of Java code.

Useful resources:

• Chapter 2 of Eck’s Introduction to Programming Using Java
• Language Basics lesson from The Java Tutorials
• Liang’s An Introduction to Java Programming ‡
• Java in a Nutshell (reference only) ‡
• McGrath’s Java in Easy Steps (to buy on Amazon, for less confident programmers)
• OpenJDK (install this on your PC)

(Note: e-books marked with ‡ above have limited access and may require you to authenticate, using the Shibboleth option and your university credentials.)