This edition of Data Abstraction and Problem Solving with Java: Walls and Mirrors employs the analogies of Walls (data abstraction) and Mirrors (recursion) to teach Java programming design solutions, in a way that beginning students find accessible. The book has a student-friendly pedagogical approach that carefully accounts for the strengths and weaknesses of the Java language. With this book, students will gain a solid foundation in data abstraction, object-oriented programming, and other problem-solving techniques.

Table of Contents:
Preface xv Chapter Dependency Chart xviii PART ONE Problem-Solving Techniques 1 1 Review of Java Fundamentals 3 1.1 Language Basics 4 Comments 4 Identifiers and Keywords 4 Variables 4 Primitive Data Types 5 References 6 Literal Constants 6 Named Constants 7 Assignments and Expressions 8 Arrays 11 1.2 Selection Statements 14 The if Statement 15 The switch Statement 16 1.3 Iteration Statements 17 The while Statement 17 The for Statement 18 The do Statement 21 1.4 Program Structure 21 Packages 22 Classes 23 Data Fields 24 Methods 26 How to Access Members of an Object 30 Class Inheritance 30 1.5 Useful Java Classes 32 The Object Class 32 The Array Class 34 String Classes 35 1.6 Java Exceptions 40 Catching Exceptions 40 Throwing Exceptions 47 1.7 Text Input and Output 49 Input 49 Output 51 The Console Class 54 1.8 File Input and Output 56 Text Files 58 Object Serialization 66 Summary 69 Cautions 72 Self-Test Exercises 72 Exercises 73 Programming Problems 78 2 Principles of Programming and Software Engineering 81 2.1 Problem Solving and Software Engineering 82 What Is Problem Solving? 82 The Life Cycle of Software 83 What Is a Good Solution? 93 2.2 Achieving an Object-Oriented Design 95 Abstraction and Information Hiding 96 Object-Oriented Design 98 Functional Decomposition 100 General Design Guidelines 101 Modeling Object-Oriented Designs Using UML 102 Advantages of an Object-Oriented Approach 106 2.3 A Summary of Key Issues in Programming 107 Modularity 107 Modifiability 109 Ease of Use 111 Fail-Safe Programming 112 Style 118 Debugging 122 Summary 125 Cautions 126 Self-Test Exercises 126 Exercises 127 Programming Problems 132 3 Recursion: The Mirrors 137 3.1 Recursive Solutions 138 A Recursive Valued Method: The Factorial of n 141 A Recursive void Method: Writing a String Backward 148 3.2 Counting Things 159 Multiplying Rabbits (The Fibonacci Sequence) 159 Organizing a Parade 161 Mr. Spock’s Dilemma (Choosing k out of n Things) 164 3.3 Searching an Array 166 Finding the Largest Item in an Array 167 Binary Search 168 Finding the k th Smallest Item in an Array 172 3.4 Organizing Data 176 The Towers of Hanoi 176 3.5 Recursion and Efficiency 180 Summary 187 Cautions 187 Self-Test Exercises 188 Exercises 189 Programming Problems 195 4 Data Abstraction: The Walls 197 4.1 Abstract Data Types 198 4.2 Specifying ADTs 203 The ADT List 204 The ADT Sorted List 209 Designing an ADT 211 Axioms (Optional) 215 4.3 Implementing ADTs 218 Java Classes Revisited 219 Java Interfaces 221 Java Packages 224 An Array-Based Implementation of the ADT List 226 Summary 233 Cautions 233 Self-Test Exercises 234 Exercises 235 Programming Problems 238 5 Linked Lists 241 5.1 Preliminaries 242 Object References 242 Resizeable Arrays 248 Reference-Based Linked Lists 249 5.2 Programming with Linked Lists 253 Displaying the Contents of a Linked List 253 Deleting a Specified Node from a Linked List 255 Inserting a Node into a Specified Position of a Linked List 258 A Reference-Based Implementation of the ADT List 264 Comparing Array-Based and Reference-Based Implementations 268 Passing a Linked List to a Method 271 Processing Linked Lists Recursively 271 5.3 Variations of the Linked List 277 Tail References 277 Circular Linked Lists 278 Dummy Head Nodes 280 Doubly Linked Lists 280 5.4 Application: Maintaining an Inventory 284 5.5 The Java Collections Framework 290 Generics 291 Iterators 292 The Java Collection’s Framework List Interface 295 Summary 298 Cautions 300 Self-Test Exe