Is it appropriate to learn and use the ACM package for JAVA?

Question

Right now I'm watching the Stanford's channel in youtube, and to be precise I'm watching the Java lectures by Professor Mehran Sahami. I already have some level of theoretical knowledge of Java but I find these lectures very interesting but there's one thing that confuses me and I want to clarify it before going any further.

In the examples there are a lot of differences from what I've seen so far in the books I've read and even in the original documentation of Sun. In these lectures the main method is as it seems public void run() insted of public static void main(String[] args). For console output he uses only println() instead System.out.println() and I suggest that going more deeply into the Java language there will be even more differencies from what I would call "the standard syntax."

From what I understand all this come from using the ACM package and I really don't know if keep watchng this will help me or just gonna confuse me more. Is this ACM package of some practical use? Does it make the Java syntax a lot more different than usual so I could end up with bunch of useless commands? Do you think it would be better to leave these videos for now and come back later when I can get use of the useful information and be more aware of the outdated stuff or the difference is not that big?

Thanks in advance

Leron

Answer 1

I'm in this exact same situation. Rather than learning ACM, which I'm not going to use anywhere else, I decided to do the assignments using current Java technologies, for example doing the graphics portions in JavaFX. Of course this might not be the best approach for absolute beginners, who may find it easiest just to stick with ACM.

In case it helps, I'm putting my coursework in GitHub:
https://github.com/bmaupin/coursework/tree/master/cs106a-stanford

For example, here's the Target assignment: https://github.com/bmaupin/coursework/blob/master/cs106a-stanford/Assignment2/Target.java

Answer 2

If I want to summarise it, I would say that the ACM Java Libraries main goal is to make you free from the syntax to help you focus on the concept.

The ACM Java Library package is an excellent tool to introduce programming concepts to newbies. As you can see the lecture's title is Programming Methodology and not Programming Java.

Hope it clarifies

Answer 3

As long as you recognize the differences between the "shortcuts" provided in the ACM code and the standard syntax, I don't think there's any inherent harm in following these lectures. I've heard some decent things about the series, and if your goal is to learn the basics of the language (or fill in gaps in existing knowledge), then I think it's a fine resource.

On the other hand, I have never seen the ACM libraries used outside of an academic setting. Personally I only used them once, on a single project for a single (non-required) class while I was persuing my undergrad degree. If you're already familiar with the language, and know the basic concepts, I'd look for more standard tutorials that don't make use of esoteric or specialized code bases. For the most part, the ACM libraries seem to contain shortcuts and a standardized framework to aid in teaching (and learning) core concepts rather than worrying the exact syntax or any quirks that might be present in the language.

Answer 4

I don't think it's going to get in the way of learning Java. It provides a framework within which your code will run, much as do Java applets, Swing, Android, or some other framework. It will not be the same as vanilla Java, but the ACM package is well documented. Once you master the basic concepts, learning the extra stuff you will need to wean yourself from the ACM package won't be hard at all.