CSC108 Midterm Exam
Summer 2001

Location

The midterm exam for CSC108 will take place at the beginning of your lecture on Tuesday June 26^th. It will be 50 minutes long in Prof. Bolintineanu's lecture section and it will be 60 minutes long in Prof. Hunter's lecture section.

What you may bring

The only aid allowed for this exam is the "Java API: An Introduction for Students, July 2000 edition." You are only allowed to bring this version of the API guide.

Chapters covered

To write the test, you need to know (1) what we've covered in the lectures and tutorials up to and including Thursday June 21^st and (2) these chapters of the text by Arnow and Weiss:

Chapter 2.

Chapter 4.

Chapter 5.

Chapter 6.

In addition, these chapters may be helpful, but they are simply introductory material, and probably not worth studying:

Chapter 1.

Chapter 3.

Topics not covered

The test will not cover applets or the other material in the "GUI Supplements" sections of the text.

How to Study

I would recommend that you start studying by making sure you have read all of the above chapters from the text book. If you have read them earlier in the term, and you have the time, you might even want to read them a second time.

You will definitely also find it helpful to review the lecture notes from the course. If you understand the lecture material, you should do fine on the midterm exam. Here are some of the things you should make sure you know:

understand the difference between the way primitive type and class type variables work.
know how to to convert between different types of variables.
understand the predefined String methods and how to process Strings.
know how the Memory Model diagram works.
know how to make a class that can be used to have objects created from it (it may have instance variables, a constructor, and methods)
know how to create a class type variable, instantiate an object, and how to call methods on the variable that refers to this object.

Reading the lecture notes and text book will help a lot, but your best way of ensuring that you'll do well on the midterm is by practicing writing programs. Remember, you study best by writing programs, not by reading books!! Use the old midterm tests provided on the web pages to quiz yourself. Please note that we have not covered loops yet this term, so you can ignore any questions related to loops on the previous midterm tests. Allow yourself to use your API as you would during the actual exam. Then look at the solutions for the old midterm tests to see where you had trouble. Note that previous midterms as of 1999 are the most relevant.

Previous Midterms

Advice on writing exams - from Prof. Clarke
Sample Midterm Exams - from Prof. Hunter
Sample Midterm Exams - from Prof. Clarke
Sample Midterm Exams - from Prof. Gries