Review of Java Basics, IDEs, Intro to Two-Dimensional Arrays

• Integrated Development Environments
  • Recommended link: http://www.leepoint.net/notes-java/tools/10ide.html
  • Advantages over using simple text editors plus command line:
    • (Usually) Single environment for the program development cycle: editing, compiling, running/debugging programs
    • Visual error reporting
  • Many to choose from
    • Simple IDEs
      • Used in education, beginning programming
      • Today, we will use BlueJ.
    • Advanced IDEs
      • Used by “real” developers
      • Support large projects
      • Collaboration features
      • Support for multiple programming languages
      • Support for GUI building
      • Later, we'll try NetBeans and maybe Eclipse.

• Login to Linux in HH 310.
• Start a Terminal in Linux.
• Create the “cs176” or “cs501b” folder, which will hold all your work for this course.
• Start bluej in the Terminal.
• Write a save a simple program.

• Recommended link: http://www.fredosaurus.com/notes-java/data/arrays/arrays-2D.html

• Lab Activity: Try writing a simple program that uses a 2-D array to store and print the following array of stars (asterisks):

           *****
           *   *
           *****

• If you don't know what minesweeper is, see Wikipedia.
  • You can also play a version of the game online at http://www.chezpoor.com/minesweeper/minesweeper.html.
• What follows are some screens from a simple text-mode version of minesweeper.

                          :)
  
                1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
               -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
           1 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           2 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           3 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           4 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           5 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           6 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           7 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           8 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           9 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
  
         Enter a command to perform, where command is one of:
  
              'o' to open a square
              'f' to mark a square with a flag (F)
              '?' to mark a square with a question mark (?)
              'c' to clear a square
              'q' to quit the game
  
         Enter a command ( <o,f,?,c,q> ): o
  
         Enter row & column coordinates of square separated by a space: 2 2
  
                          :)
  
                1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
               -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
           1 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           2 |  -  4  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           3 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           4 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           5 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           6 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           7 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           8 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
           9 |  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

• Basic functionality:
  • Creation of program grid
  • Setting of randomly placed mines, computation of numbers in unmined squares
  • Drawing of user interface
  • Opening and displaying of grid squares specified by player
  • Setting of flags and question marks on grid squares specified by player

• Advanced functionality:
  • Checking if the last move has won or lost the game
  • Clearing all surrounding unmined squares when an unmined square is opened

• How might this be programmed?
  • Assuming this will involve two-dimensional arrays, how would the array (or arrays) be used?