Phase 1 – Fundamentals and Essential Java (2–3 months)
Programming Logic and Algorithms
- Problem decomposition
- Exercises: average, even/odd, sorting
Environment Setup
- Installation of the JDK
- IDE (IntelliJ or Eclipse)
- Basic debugging
Basic Java Syntax
- Program structure (class, main)
- Naming conventions
- Comments
Data Types and Variables
- Primitive and non-primitive types
- Declaration, initialization, constants
- Casting and comparison (
==
vs .equals()
)
- Scanner
- System.out.println / printf
Control Structures
- if, else if, else, switch
- Logical and relational operators
Loops
- for, while, do-while
- break, continue, nested loops
Methods and Scope
- Declaration, parameters, return
- Overloading
- Local variables and class attributes
Arrays
- Declaration, initialization, and manipulation
- Linear search and manual sorting
- Arrays.toString() for debugging
Strings and StringBuilder
- Common methods
- Immutability and performance
Exceptions
- try/catch/finally
- Checked vs Unchecked
- throw and throws
- Creating custom exceptions (e.g., throw new MyException)
- Terminal: cd, ls, mkdir
- Git: init, add, commit, push, pull, branch, merge
- GitHub: creating repositories, pull requests, cloning
Final Projects
- Simple calculator and a Task manager
- Requirements:
- Use Git
- Publish on GitHub
- Explanatory README
Resources