This hands-on course teaches programmers the essentials of Java programming. This material is uniquely geared to the mainframe developer, using the knowledge base of that audience to promote understanding of Java. It focuses on defining object programming and the syntax of Java 2, using comparisons to languages such as COBOL and PL/1 where possible.

Audience: Mainframe application/software developers.

After completing this course a student should:

• Understand Java's place in the programming world
• Understand the elements of object oriented design
• Be able to contrast OO design vs. structural design
• Understand the Java environment, especially the Virtual Machine
• Be able to understand data definition and manipulation in Java
• Be able to create and use objects in Java, employing encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism
• Be familiar with these essential low-level programming mechanisms: collections, exceptions and threads
• Provide a description of simple Java I/O Have sufficient foundation upon which to build advanced skills

Programming experience. As noted above this course is geared to mainframe programmers, knowledge of procedural programming languages is assumed.