Introduction to Chapter 2 Module

At the heart of most high level computer languages is the capability to manipulate data.  JAVA is no different, so the chapter is primarily concerned with introducing data types and their associated operations.  You will see the connection to math immediately because many data types and operations are similar to ones you encountered in algebra.  There are integers and real number types, the latter being referred to as "floating point" or just "double" for short.  Operations include the familiar add, subtract, multiply, and divide, plus a few you may not know like "modulo".  From these you will be able to create formulas and do calculations with JAVA.

You will study problem solving in a more formal way.  Many students see problem solving as a kind of guessing game that some people do better than others.  You will see that there is a helpful problem solving process involving certain specific steps.  And too you will learn how to judge whether a problem lends itself  to computer solution by applying Knuth's Algorithm Definition.

You will learn that programming has style and structure.  The style or "look" of your programs will be  either "procedure oriented" or "object oriented".   Structure consists of three basic program building blocks: sequence, selection, repetition. 

Whew! That sounds like a lot to do so we best get started.