Building Java Programs:  A Back to Basics Approach Review

• Easy to read. 
• Good explanations of vocabulary and concepts.
• Focus is  on “Algorithmic Thinking”
• Lots of questions and exercises at the end of the chapters
• Lots of questions around reading code
• Uses static methods to teach procedural programming
• Doesn’t talk about classes until chapter 8 (2/3 the way through the text)
• I wonder if they chose Java (an unusual language for such a course structure) so they would not have to switch languages between the first and second course…
• Good focus on vocabulary in the text
• Chapter 1 focuses on output and methods
• Chapter 2 focuses on variables, primitive data types, and loops
• Chapter 3 focuses on parameters and objects

I like the text, very user-friendly, certainly a great introduction to programming. 
I’m less turned off by their use of Java in a procedural back-to-basics course than I thought I would be, though I still think Python would have been a more appropriate choice.