ACM Java Task Force

Version 2.0

(September 20, 2008)

This page provides several entry points into the documentation
and materials prepared by the ACM Java Task Force, which was convened
in 2004 with the following charter:

To review the Java language, APIs, and tools from the perspective of
introductory computing education and to develop a stable collection of
pedagogical resources that will make it easier to teach Java to
first-year computing students without having those students overwhelmed
by its complexity.

Getting Started

There are several ways to get started with the JTF packages.
For most new users, the best place to start is with the
JTF Tutorial, which is designed
to teach potential adopters how to use the packages.
If you want to see what is possible with the JTF resources, you
can check out the JTF Demo Gallery.
For a one-page synopsis of the project and its accomplishments,
please see the executive summary.

The remainder of this page consists of links to the materials.

Click here for a list of what’s new in this release.

Demos

   The JTF Demo Gallery

JTF Tutorial

1. Introduction to the JTF Packages

2. Using the acm.package Package

3. Animation and Interactivity

4. Graphical User Interfaces

Rationale Document

1. Introduction

2. Principles

3. Problem Taxonomy

4. The acm.io Package

5. The acm.graphics Package

6. The acm.program Package

7. The acm.gui Package

8. The acm.util Package

9. The JTF Java Subset

References

Documentation

   Student-view javadoc documentation

Downloads

Tutorial.pdf	Printable version of the JTF Tutorial (85 pages/348K)
Rationale.pdf	Printable version of the JTF Rationale (116 pages/468K)
ExecutiveSummary.pdf	A one-page executive summary of the JTF project
acm.jar	JAR archive containing the acm packages
acm.zip	Downloadable source archive for Windows and Mac OS X
License.pdf	The JTF license agreement

Software License

The ACM Java Task Force seeks to impose few restrictions on the use of
its library packages so that users have as much freedom as possible to
use this software in constructive ways and can make the benefits of that
work available to others.
In view of the legal complexities of software development, however, it
is essential for the ACM to maintain copyright over the JTF software as
insurance against the following eventualities:

• Someone claims ownership of the JTF software and seeks to restrict
  the ACM’s and other users’ access to the material.
  


• Someone seeks to promote a derivative work as the
  “official” version of the JTF software without the permission
  of the ACM.
  


• Someone takes legal action against the ACM for damages arising from
  the use of the software.
  

Each of these situations represents a clear violation of the principles
of free software, and the ACM has therefore developed a legal agreement
to guard against such problems. The full text of the license agreement
is available here.

Members of the Java Task Force

	Eric Roberts (chair)	Stanford University
	Kim Bruce	Pomona College
	Robb Cutler	The Harker School
	James Cross	Auburn University
	Scott Grissom	Grand Valley State University
	Karl Klee	Alfred State College
	Susan Rodger	Duke University
	Fran Trees	Drew University
	Ian Utting	University of Kent
	Frank Yellin	Google, Inc.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the ACM Education Board, the
SIGCSE Special Projects Fund, and the National Science Foundation
(grant DUE-0411905).

Feedback

Please send comments to the Java Task Force at the following address:



java-task-force@cs.stanford.edu

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Last modified on Fri Aug 15 10:53:31 2008 by eroberts