Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:31:37 -0800 (PST)
From: mcguire@cs.ucsb.edu (Hugh W. McGuire)
To: crawfordd@acm.org
Subject: CACM Forum submission
Cc: RDWestfall@csupomona.edu
To the Editor, "Communications of the ACM":
In his Technical Opinion, "`Hello, World' Considered Harmful" in your
October 2001 issue, Ralph Westfall suggests clarifying the use of objects
when teaching introductory Java by having |main()| explicitly instantiate
a separate class which does the output.
But the paraphernalia |static void main(String[] args)| remains; and the
object's existence is so fleeting that students may still not get
object-oriented from seeing this version.
I suggest that instructors actually use `applets' instead of `applications'
when teaching introductory Java. While admittedly not as explicit as the
instantation using |new| in Westfall's version, instantiation of an applet
class is done via HTML. A Web-browser's graphic presentation of the applet
object clarifies to students that an object is present; and multiple
instantiation could make instantiation even more clear. E.g.:
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
public class HelloWorld extends Applet {
public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.drawString("hello, world", 10, 20);
}
}
another instantiation:
Hugh McGuire, Lecturer
Department of Computer Science
U.C.S.B.
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~mcguire/
(805) 893-5412
mcguire@cs.ucsb.edu