IFSC 3340: Human Computer Interface

1. IFSC 3340: Human Computer Interface Continuation of 2300 emphasizing applets In addition to learning Java syntax, will read a book on interface design principles The Syllabus shows the reading schedule with some sections of each text discussed each class session. There will be two assignments most weeks as well as at least 3 blooper presentation opportunities for a minimum of 33 assignments of which the best 25 will be scored. The course will begin with Chapter 8 of the 2300 text.

2. GUI Bloopers • Both of the texts are trade books, meaning that there are no questions at the end of each chapter, no reviews, and no author websites (but there are many references to the web). • Both authors address professionals whom they believe to be generally familiar with the problems being discussed. I will use the lecture to answer questions and fill in the gaps where this assumption is not valid (this is particularly needed with the Swing Tutorial). • We will start at the back of Johnson’s book to get some understanding of what a professional GUI designer does and cares about. We will then cover his general principles and finally, beginning in March, we will examine each of his 82 bloopers.

3. Swing Tutorial • The Swing package is the replacement/extention in Java 2 of the AWT classes. The java.awt package tried to use the native windows components on whatever platform Java was run (Unix, Mac, Windows), hence the interface had the lowest common denominator features and looks slightly different on different machines because of the different implementations of these components. The text discusses the differences and how and when to re-write interfaces using the javax.swing package. Since we have little knowledge of the awt package, we can skip the discussion. • The text assumes that you will run in sun’s JDK environment but we will continue in Visual Age and J++, both of which are Swing aware. • The text “illustrates” syntax by showing you a specific code snippet from a sample program. The complete program is referenced in the back of the book and on the web (and on the CD). [the whole book is also on the web] • Because the text is new, the code should be right, but you should routinely RUN EVERY PROGRAM ILLUSTRATION. Those using Visual Age (Java 1.1) might have to delete some of its packages to free up space for Swing.

4. The 2300 final exam • I placed a number of comments on the website. • Look over your 2300 final and return it.

5. Concepts That Must Be Clear • Java is about writing and using classes. • Classes are grouped in packages, but each class in the package has its own ancestry that determines its characteristics (services) • An interface is another way of imposing characteristics on a class. Interface specifications are more flexible, but do not take advantage of code reuse. Either an interface or a class name may type a reference variable. • Packages of classes are usually imported into an application and then these library classes are refined by extension and by overriding inherited methods (new classes are defined) which provide the application functions. • Execution begins with a class the contains a main method. The Java Runtime Environment considers this method’s code to be the application thread, and when it has been executed, the application ends. • Static methods can be called anytime by identifying the class name and the method name (and the arguments), but instance methods can only be called if an object has been constructed and the method will then interface with the encapsulated data of that object.