The material on this page is a recommendation and is not a requirement for this course.
Even though this is a C++ course, you would probably benefit by broadening your programming knowledge into other programming languages and environments. It would certainly be beneficial for those of you who have not completed ACC's Advanced C++ course to learn something about object-oriented programming (OOP).
In my opinion, some of the most interesting approaches to teaching and learning OOP are provided by the Greenfoot and BlueJ IDEs developed by Michael Kölling. (These approaches are based on the Java programming language.)
I'm not referring to the Greenfoot or BlueJ textbooks (although they may be excellent textbooks). Instead, I am referring to the concept that is embodied in the Greenfoot and BlueJ IDEs, which can be downloaded for free here (Greenfoot) and here (BlueJ).
To jumpstart your OOP learning process, I strongly recommend that you download and work through the Greenfoot tutorial and the sample chapters from the Greenfoot textbook. (You can download a zip file containing the textbook scenarios here.)
A "quick intro" to Greenfoot is available here.
I also recommend that you watch all of the Greenfoot tutorials that you will find here. (The video tutorials are also available on YouTube but the quality is better here.)
The Greenfoot Programmers Manual is available here and the javadoc documentation is available here. A documentation overview is available here.
Some useful classes that you can incorporate into your Greenfoot programs are available here.
To enhance your learning experience and encourage you to think more broadly about programming, I recommend that you become involved in the Greenfoot Gallery, which is a community of programmers worldwide that use the Greenfoot IDE to create and share programs that use animation, sound, etc., to make the programming experience more enjoyable.
If you have about $60.00 to spare, you might consider investing in the Greenfoot textbook. (The Greenfoot textbook is not a requirement for this course, and I have no financial interest in the textbook or any other aspect of Greenfoot.) Don't be misled by the title (Introduction to Programming with Greenfoot ). While it is an introductory textbook, it is an introduction to Object-Oriented Programming and not simply an introduction to programming. (I would be interested in hearing your opinion of how this approach compares with the approach used in COSC 1315.)
To some extent, the textbook is also an introduction to game programming with some very interesting information in the chapters titled Finishing the crab game, Interacting objects: Newton's Lab, and Collision detection: Asteroids. (Even if you don't purchase the textbook, you can download and experiment with the textbook programs here.)
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File: GAME2342Greenfoot.htm