ACM Java Task Force
Version 1.0

(August 25, 2006)

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.

The materials that are accessible through this page represent the Version 1.0 release of the Java Task Force materials.

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

Getting Started

There are several ways to get started with the JTF resources. 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.

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)

`executive-summary.pdf`	A one-page executive summary of the JTF project
`acm.jar`	JAR archive containing the acm packages
`acm11.jar`	JAR archive providing backward compatibility for JDK 1.1 browsers
`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

Last modified on Sat Aug 26 04:54:59 2006 by eroberts

ACM Java Task Force Version 1.0