Participation is open to any student, faculty, or staff member in any Department. We will assume a background in some programming language, but not necessarily a background in any OOP language: we will start from the beginning (but not, heaven help us, with another Hello World program!). Anyone proficient with a mouse and keyboard can do this who is willing to devote sufficient time.

The present plan is to use the Fall 2001 semester as a basic introduction to Java. Depending on the response and interest, we could then go one of several directions in the Spring: C++ programming, advanced Java programming, or Flash 5 Actionscript programming. Since core Java has probably an 80-90% overlap with core C++ and core Flash Actionscript (the syntax is almost the same and the structures are very similar for all these languages), it would be easy to go in any of these directions in the Spring if there is sufficient interest.

The proposed organization of the class this Fall is semiformal: the official book will be "Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days" (Lemay, et al, Sams.net publishing), 2nd edition or later, which can be ordered from the usual places. We will recommend Visual Cafe as a visual development environment (we have it on many computers on the 6th floor of Nielsen and the academic version is $47 through the campus computer store). Visual Cafe is NOT necessary to write Java: it is sufficient to have the free Java Development Kit from Sun and an editor. Visual Cafe does make writing Java simpler, however, and as a result increases productivity.

Beginning in mid-October, we will work through approximately 2/3 of the 21 chapters in this book, with emphasis on core programming that will allow participants to proceed on their own to more advanced applications. (For example, include the chapter on "Managing Simple Events and Interactivity" but omit the chapter on "Using Native Methods and Libraries"). There will be a class newsgroup to facilitate interaction, and we will meet once a week for 2 hours as a group to discuss issues associated with the current assignment. This will NOT be a lecture class however: the emphasis will be on self and group learning. But we WILL try to provide some support from "experts" (people who have written one more Java program than the average student)during the weekly meeting,and through the newsgroup.

The proposed class is optional, non-credit, self-learning. However, if there are students interested in obtaining credit, it probably is possible to work out an independent study project that would involve completing a serious programming application in addition to the basic material. Students interested in independent study credit should contact Prof. Mike Guidry (guidry@utk.edu) to discuss it.

Those interested in participating should contact Erin McMahon (emcmahon@utk.edu; phone 865-974-7807), who will serve as logistics coordinator. Provide Erin with your name, department and position, email address,and preferred times for the 2-hour weekly group meeting.