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The following tutorials were written by Davin Pearson as supplementary material to the University of Canterbury COSC121 course teaching the Java language. At the top of each tutorial is a hyperlink to a model answer, but don't look at the answer until you have completed all the questions of the tutorial!

DISCLAIMER: These tutorials were not developed by TEAM COSC and are independent any COSC course. They are solely intended as a study aid.

When you have finished the tutorials, check out my Website:

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Number	File(s)	Notes
1	`PersonTest.java`	Contains a simple class `Person` for representing the concept of a human being, and a driver class `PersonTest`. Key concepts: Defining and calling a method. Defining and accessing a property. Defining and calling a constructor.
2	`CitizenTest.java`	Contains a class `Citizen` for storing a person's financial information including their salary, savings and loan (if they have one). Tax is paid by the citizen and a class called `Government` is used to keep track of the total tax paid. The classes are driven by `CitizenTest`. Key concepts: How to pass arguments into methods. How to use a method's return value. Ignoring the return value of a method. Overloading two constructors. Accessing a static property. Calling a static method.
3	`DogTest.java`	An example involving three classes `Flea`, `Dog` and `DogOwner` to represent the idea that a dog has a flea and a dog-owner has a dog. The class `DogTest` is the driver class. Key concepts: A property of a class can itself be a reference to another class, setting up a relationship between the two classes.
4	`RunnerTest.java`	Two classes `SportsShoe` and `Runner` for modelling runners and their shoes, together with a driver class called `RunnerTest`. Key concepts: Static methods versus non-static methods. Overloading two methods. Methods for swapping properties of two objects.
5	`StaticTest.java`,`StaticTest2.java`.	This tutorial attempts to convey the meaning of the `static` keyword by showing firstly an example `StaticTest.java` where static is used and then secondly an example `StaticTest2.java` which is the same example with static removed.
6	`ForTest.java`	This tutorial gives you practice in writing `for` loops. A `for` loop has the following structure: for (Init-part; While-part; Increment-part) Body-part This tutorial shows you how the different parts of the `for` loop affect the behaviour of the loop.
7	`LoopTest.java`	Java's three different looping constructs: `for`, `do` and `while`. This tutorial takes you through the process of rewriting a `for` loop into a `do` loop and a `while` loop.
8	`ScrabbleTest.java`	String manipulation. Useful methods to remember are `length()` for getting a string's length, and `charAt(NNN)` for inspecting the character at location `NNN` in a string.
9	`ArrayTest.java`,`ArrayTest2.java`	Arrays. There are two kinds of arrays: arrays of references, and arrays of the built-in types. The built-in types are: `int`, `long`, `short`, `byte`, `float`, `double`, `char` and `boolean`. The file `ArrayTest.java` gives you practice using arrays of the built-in types, and the file `ArrayTest2.java` gives you practice using arrays of references.
10	`CarTest.java`.	Advanced tutorial involving two classes `Car`, and `Driver` for representing automobiles and their owners, respectively. Also the class `CarTest` is used for testing the other two classes. WARNING: Difficult tutorial.
11	`TurtleTest.java`	Linked lists. Dr Seuss' story Yertle the Turtle describes how a turtle called Yertle sits at the top of a pile of other turtles. In this example, the pile of turtles is represented by a linked list of `Turtle` objects, with the `up` field serving to connect one `Turtle` object to another. If a `Turtle` object has a non-`null` `up` field, then this represents a turtle that is sitting on top of the current one. The last turtle in the linked list is the turtle that is at the top of the pile. WARNING: Difficult tutorial.
12	`InheriTest.java`	Theoretical example of inheritance. The file `InheriTest.java` contains four classes: `Animal`, `Bird` and `Eagle` and a tester class `InheriTest`. Class `Bird` inherits from `Animal` and class `Eagle` inherits from `Bird`. The main thing that this tutorial shows is the idea that inheritance is a non-symmetrical relationship. For example: the `Bird` class inherits from the `Animal` class, which corresponds to the idea that "every bird is an animal". The reverse, "every animal is a bird" is plainly not true! Inheritance forces you to recognize this.
13	`StarWars.java`	Practical example of inheritance. The file `StarWars.java` is comprised of three classes: `XWing`, `TieFighter` and `StarWars`. The first two represent spacecraft from the two sides of the Star Wars films. The class `StarWars` is the driver class and contains code for executing a battle between the X-Wings and the Tie Fighters. The tutorial shows how inheritance can be used to reduce the amount of duplication of code.
14	`AnimalTest.java`	Arrays, inheritance and polymorphism.