Graphical User Interfaces
My introduction to Java's Swing API came from watching Bucky's videos. I quickly was able to create GUI-based programs after watching them. My first ones were not great, of course, but I improved over time. I don't think I would have taken much interest in Java had I not learned how to make functional GUIs. I think students would have more interest in programming if they learned GUIs early. They provide a graphical representation of objects that can help students visualize OOP concepts. Our card game project this week, for example, offers a great way to "see" objects.
Coding Swing elements can be very tedious. It can be confusing for new programmers to correctly implement features. Programs written in Swing also look and "feel" older. Today I prefer using JavaFX for my GUI needs, although it can be a bit tricky to setup since it is no longer included with the JDK. I have limited experience with other graphical libraries so cannot make a good comparison, but I feel like Swing has been left in the dust.
Keeping Up
This week my team began working on a GUI for a card game. It reuses code from our previous lab (Decks of Cards) but adds a graphical element using the Swing API. We have some choices in how to create our game, but we intend on making it as simple as possible for demonstration purposes. At first glance this project seems overwhelming, especially due to time constraints, but when it's broken down into individual parts it seems manageable.
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