UPDATED April 2023 with more details for how to install recent and future versions of Java.
Do-It-Yourself Java Games uses a unique "discovery learning" approach to teach computer programming: learn Java programming techniques more by doing Java programming than by reading about them. Through extensive use of fill-in blanks, with easy one-click access to answers, you will be guided to write complete programs yourself, starting with the first lesson. With this first book of the series, you'll create puzzle and game programs like Choose An Adventure, Secret Code, Hangman, Crazy Eights, and many more, and discover how, when, and why Java programs are written the way they are.
Each book of the Do-It-Yourself Java Games series builds on skills taught in the previous book, yet each book is completely independent. You may start anywhere in the series based on your Java programming experience and current needs.
- Do-It-Yourself Java Games: An Introduction to Java Computer Programming - learn the fundamentals of Java programming as you create fourteen different text-based games. No previous programming experience is required.
- More Do-It-Yourself Java Games: An Introduction to Java Graphics and Event-Driven Programming - learn how to program windows, icons, and menus as you create ten more colorful, more interactive games.
- Advanced Do-It-Yourself Java Games: An Introduction to Java Threads and Animated Video Games - learn to control multiple, simultaneous activities as you create eight more lively, audible games.
- Do-It-Yourself Multiplayer Java Games: An Introduction to Java Sockets and Internet-Based Games - Learn to communicate across a network as you create seven games that you can play against friends on other computers.
All books in the series employ the same "discovery learning" approach to teach computer programming.
Annette Godtland is a computer programmer who worked at IBM for 20 years then Kingland Systems Corporation for 5 years. She now considers herself to be a hobby programmer. She particularly enjoys programming computer games and working with all forms of computer graphics. Many years ago, Annette created course materials and taught a beginning programming class for 4th through 6th grade students. She enjoyed it so much that she always wanted to try making her course into a book. She finally did it in her book: Do-It-Yourself Java Games: An Introduction to Java Computer Programming. This book is the first in a planned series of do-it-yourself Java programming books, intended for junior high to high school students as well as adults, as a means to explore an interest in computer programming. Annette compiled a detailed tutorial of all the tips, tools, and techniques she has learned for getting a program to market, and for selling almost anything on the Internet, in her first book, This Little Program Went to Market. She currently sells her own software at www.godtlandsoftware.com.
