6 replies to this topic

[An Alien]

I take AP (Advanced) Comp Sci in high school. And I'm afraid that we aren't learning the way we are supposed to. The teacher doesn't know much about it either and is also learning while teaching the class. We're currently learning java and we're still on the basics. I don't want to fail the final AP exam because of the teacher. So, I want to know what I should do in order to prepare for the AP exam. I can buy books, but I don't want them to be too basic cause reading the basics over again just gets boring. So just post your suggestions of any books or tutorials I should read.

[lethalwire]

Are you taking the the A or AB exam? ( They might've changed the names )
If you're taking the easier of the two tests, I think the basics are all you need to know.
if you're taking the harder of the two, I think you need to be aware of how to use the Collection framework( data structures: arraylist<E>, TreeMap<E>, etc )

Here is a guide from the Collegeboard website for the A exam.
http://apcentral.col...description.pdf

Edit* Err.. I guess collegeboard has done away with the AB test?

[An Alien]

AB no longer exists so exam A. I know how to make a simple array and a simple muti-dimensional array. I'm not aware of the Collection framework.

[lethalwire]

Check out pages 8-10 of the pdf.
The collections are just ArrayLists, LinkedLists, etc.
According to the guide, you'll only need to know about basic data structures.
There is also a practice exam in the description whatever it's called.

[An Alien]

Thanks, I've found the sample questions. I'll see what I know and what I don't know.

[An Alien]

What's all this stuff about list and how does it work with arrays?

[lethalwire]

Example?
You may be talking about an ArrayList.
Is this your first year taking a computer science class?
If you aren't aware of the programming concepts you might want to start with something easier than an ArrayList.

An ArrayList is a class in java that implements the List interface.
Another type of list could be a LinkedList.
They both, obviously are lists, that store data.

They differ in the how they store their data.
There is a great explanation here:
java - When to use LinkedList<> over ArrayList<>? - Stack Overflow

A simple list using primitive arrays could look like this:

int[] list1 = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

String[] list2 = {"hello", "world", "."};

System.out.println("Print first element of both lists: " + list1[0] + " " + list2[0] );

If you're talking about an ArrayList, you'll create an object of that class.
Example:

ArrayList< Integer > list1 = new ArrayList< Integer >();

list1.add( 1 );

list1.add( 2 );

list1.add( 3 );

System.out.println("First element of list: " + list1.get( 0 ) );

If you're using a LinkedList:

LinkedList< Integer > list1 = new LinkedList< Integer >();

list1.add( 1 );

list1.add( 2 );

list1.add( 3 );

System.out.println( "Print first element of list: " + list1.get( 0 ) ); 

Here is the ArrayList documentation:
ArrayList (Java Platform SE 6)
and LinkedList:
LinkedList (Java Platform SE 6)