<p>I meant Eclipse not running^^</p>
<p>Studying as part of a group rather than individual studying does sound much more promising and efficient.</p>
<p>Count me in.</p>
<p>I’m also taking the following AP’s this year in addition to CS: Euro History, Macro Econ, Gov, Lit & Comp, and Statistics.</p>
<p>These are great resources everyone is posting; keep it coming!</p>
<p>I’m self studying too (well, technically I did have a semester of IB Computer Sci. SL). I haven’t used this much yet, but I think this is a great website: [TheNewBoston</a> – Free Educational Video Tutorials on Computer Programming and More! Java](<a href=“http://www.thenewboston.com/?cat=36&pOpen=tutorial]TheNewBoston”>http://www.thenewboston.com/?cat=36&pOpen=tutorial)</p>
<p>Has anyone figured out how to use Karel’s world? I’m having some trouble using it with Eclipse. If I figure it out I’ll post a tutorial, but I could really use some help.</p>
<p>For anyone still interested, this is the free eBook I used: <a href=“http://greenteapress.com/thinkapjava/thinkapjava.pdf[/url]”>http://greenteapress.com/thinkapjava/thinkapjava.pdf</a></p>
<p>I’m in :)</p>
<p>Sent from my iPod touch using CC</p>
<p>For the JDK download outlined in the link two posts above ([TheNewBoston</a> – Free Educational Video Tutorials on Computer Programming and More! Java](<a href=“http://www.thenewboston.com/?cat=36&pOpen=tutorial]TheNewBoston”>http://www.thenewboston.com/?cat=36&pOpen=tutorial)) did you guys manage to download it all in a package or do you have to download the applications one by one?</p>
<p>Don’t use thenewboston’s videos for studying. He’ll teach you Java but not Computer Science.</p>
<p>In that case I’ll just use that link as a supplement to the course. You can never know enough, right? (Inner nerd talking here.)</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, what OS are you guys using?</p>
<p>You can learn CS on any OS but if you’re curious I’m using Windows, Mac OS X, and CentOS.</p>
<p>Are there any advantages to learning how to operate Linux? I’ve read that this is what most college labs and professional programmers use.</p>
<p>Professional programmers use what they are most comfortable with or what tools are available on that platform. </p>
<p>IMO If you learn how to operate a Linux-based OS, then you will learn more about operating systems in general because Linux-based OSes are completely open. You can look at the code and see how the OS functions.</p>
<p>I do most of my work on Mac OS X since I prefer using Xcode. Some people like Visual Studio so they use Windows. Others like opensource OSes and tools so they use Linux. </p>
<p>Tip: Avoid using any distribution based off of Ubuntu. The OS has had layers of bloatware and other ‘security measures’ placed on top of it. IMO It’s much harder to examine the OS now because you’ll be breaking the OS.</p>
<p>Go for Fedora/CentOS or FreeBSD.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks!</p>
<p>G0DZILLA, </p>
<p>What would you say are good resources for learning not only this material but programming in general?</p>
<p>Language Specific:
[C++</a> Language Tutorial - C++ Documentation](<a href=“http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/]C++”>http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/)
[Python</a> Programming Language – Official Website](<a href=“http://www.python.org/]Python”>http://www.python.org/)
[The</a> Java Tutorials](<a href=“JDK 20 Documentation - Home”>The Java™ Tutorials)
[C</a> Programming - Wikibooks, open books for an open world](<a href=“http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C_programming]C”>C Programming - Wikibooks, open books for an open world)</p>
<p>Computer Science:
[Stanford</a> School of Engineering - Stanford Engineering Everywhere](<a href=“http://see.stanford.edu/see/lecturelist.aspx?coll=824a47e1-135f-4508-a5aa-866adcae1111]Stanford”>http://see.stanford.edu/see/lecturelist.aspx?coll=824a47e1-135f-4508-a5aa-866adcae1111)</p>
<p>[Free</a> Online Course Materials | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | MIT OpenCourseWare](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/]Free”>Search | MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials)</p>
<p>Once you get the idea on “How to Think Like a Computer Scientist” you can apply your knowledge to learn other programming languages. The links to the course should provide free materials for you to use. </p>
<p>Personally I dislike books because they are expensive and you can find everything you need on the internet these days but if you need paper “O’reilly” books are pretty good.</p>
<p>Hello there, just peeking in and saw this thread. I’m a high school grad going to major in Software Engineering, and last year (okay, this spring), I did a AP self-study class-esque thing in three months, and very happily, I got a 5 on the AP exam! And mind, I do run Ubuntu on my desktop and in general I’m pretty good with computers, but my school is too rural to have any actual computer science-related classes, so I’ve never done programming, ever. I was just interested in computers and needed to come up with something on my schedule to get out of double band. =D</p>
<p>So here are my wonderful experience adventures in trying to teach myself CS:</p>
<p>I followed through about 1/3 of [Stanford’s</a> CS106A class](<a href=“http://see.stanford.edu/see/courseinfo.aspx?coll=824a47e1-135f-4508-a5aa-866adcae1111]Stanford’s”>http://see.stanford.edu/see/courseinfo.aspx?coll=824a47e1-135f-4508-a5aa-866adcae1111), until I finished the Breakout project, then hour-long videos just got too long for me (though Mehran, the professor, so energetic, friendly, and entertaining, I wish I had him for a teacher in real life). Karel is very cute and quite helpful getting you used to syntax and “how to think of things like a computer scientist” as they say. I installed Eclipse (from the above website, under “Software” ), and in the “Handouts” section, there’s a little intro on how to set it up and get things going. </p>
<p>Luckily enough, the draft version of the textbook to that class, The Art and Science of Java is available free online. It was incredibly helpful and is actually pretty consistent chapter-by-chapter to what you find in the Barron’s book.</p>
<p>So about a month before the AP exam, I was swamped with actual class work, so I worked through the Barron’s book, cover to cover (except for not giving Search and Sort and GridWorld my full attention, because that stuff is freaking annoying… you’ll see ;D). Don’t be discouraged when it’s frustrating. Yes, it will get frustrating. It’s okay. Lmao. The multiple choice in the Barron’s book is much harder than the actual test, especially since I was getting high 3s in those MC practice tests, and I flew through the actual test with 20 minutes to spare.</p>
<p>And the greatest piece of advice I can give you is to go through the past practice exams. That’s the same for any AP test you take (and SATs as well!). Helpful links:</p>
<p>[APCS</a> Course Description](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>AP Computer Science A – AP Students | College Board) – basically valuable for its practice MC
[Past</a> Free-Response Questions (and Answers!)](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>AP Computer Science A Exam – AP Students | College Board)</p>
<p>Just so you know, on the actual exam, my FRQ didn’t go as well as the MC… haha. I worked up to the time limit and one of my answers was all over the place while another I ended up using a helper method (which I’m not sure you’re actually allowed to do). But I guess it worked out, I got a 5! And that’s coming from someone who did taught herself the whole course in 12 weeks, on top of taking 3 other AP exams, on top of my foot being infected for that week and my having to go to the hospital the day afterward.</p>
<p>So really, if you all are starting this early, you should be fine! Trust me!</p>
<p>Good luck, and if you have any other questions, just pm me. I’d be glad to help!</p>
<p>Hi Ollie, I’m having quite a bit of trouble running Karel’s World. I’m operating on Mac OS 10.6.8, and Eclipse 3.7.0. I tried to follow along with “Handout #6” on the CS106A website, and I still can’t figure it out. I downloaded Assignment 1, opened it up in Eclipse, wrote a program w/o any errors, but when I ran it this came up:</p>
<p>“Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NullPointerException
at acm.program.Program.main(Program.java:917)
at stanford.karel.Karel.main(Karel.java:202)”</p>
<p>Did I set it up incorrectly? Please help!</p>
<p>Self-studied it this past year and got a 5.</p>
<p>Protip: if you just want to get a 5 on the AP exam, Barron’s is overkill, not to mention college courses. Barron’s was the only book I used, though, and it covers the material fairly well, so I don’t really have an alternative to suggest. If you know the basics of the language and can use some basic logic, the MC section won’t be very hard. I think I only wrote one or two programs before becoming lazy about actually writing programs, and I wasn’t sure about a lot of the FRQs, so a 5 was a bit surprising. </p>
<p>I still don’t feel like I know how to program despite getting a 5 on the AP exam. I’d have to say the AP exam is flawed in that</p>
<p>1) it should really be called something along the lines of AP Java or AP Programming; it doesn’t really go very deep into computer science (which is not just coding)
2) if I could get a 5 while barely knowing how to program, what does that say about the quality of the exam? I’m wondering why even top CS schools like Stanford and CMU give credit for intro CS for a 5 on this exam.</p>
<p>I regret not putting more effort into learning Java, so I strongly encourage you guys to put more effort than I did into this, even if you just want a 5. You’ll be more satisfied with yourself in the end if you really learn how to program. (Fortunately, it looks like you’re doing that already!) Good luck and have fun! :)</p>
<p>(…OK, that was a bit ranty.)</p>
<p>I’m in. I watched an MIT lecture, which I may follow and supplement with Java: A Beginner’s Guide by Herbert Schildt.</p>
<p>Pardon me asking, but is the exam on paper or are things needed to be done on a computer?</p>