COP 3330: Object Oriented Programming Archive
I have taught this course only three times, and to date, I haven't
quite perfected it. I always struggled with the difference in level of the
students in the course. Furthermore, I always found it challenging to
teach inheritance in a way that students could truly see the practicality
of it. I know that over the past several semesters, other teachers have
increasingly incorporated GUIs into the course. I think this is an
excellent move. GUIs have a very natural inheritance structure that can
be taught to students. Plus, students generally have fun when they can see
graphical output from their code. Probably the biggest reason I haven't
taught more GUIs in the course is that I don't know how to write them
myself. If I get this course again, that will be my top priority. I do
feel however, that I have succeeded in getting across to students the
general idea of an object-oriented mindset and how to design a class,
choosing instance variables and what methods to make available in a class.