CMPS 134 Fall 2023
Final Exam Preview

Having already taken two tests in this course, you should be familiar with the kinds of questions likely to be on the final exam. For more specific guidance, the following is offered.

• Terminology: Expect questions (such as appeared in the first two tests) that gauge your familiarity and understanding of various terms that are used in the realm of programming (and Java programming in particular). Given some Java code, be able to identify examples of various elements of the Java language, such as variable declarations, method headings, comments, literals (of type int, boolean, String, etc.), assignment statements, boolean expressions, etc., etc. Given a statement about Java programming that is missing one or more words, be able to supply what's missing to make the statement accurate.
• Reading/Tracing Code: Given some Java code (perhaps a code segment, or a method, or an entire application) together with data for it to process (the data coming to it either via a Scanner object reading it or via reception of parameter values), be able to tell what happens during execution (e.g., what output the code produces, what value the method returns, or even the progression of values taken on by its variables from one loop iteration to another).

  In particular, in recent days we discussed the Binary Search, Selection Sort, and Insertion Sort algorithms. Given code that implements one of these, plus an array on which it is to operate, you should be able to give a precise account of what happens during execution. For example, identify those locations of the array that are probed during a binary search or show the contents of the array after each iteration of one of the sorting algorithms.

• Abstraction and Representation Issues: During the latter half of the course, we discussed several "instance classes" (i.e., ones intended to define new data types (and to serve as "blueprints" for objects) and from which objects were intended to be created) that implement "abstractions" of various kinds. Among these were classes giving rise to objects that represent/mimic/simulate tossable coins, six-sided dice, umpire clickers, wraparound counters, and spinner devices.

  One of the keys to designing such a class is to choose a set of instance variables that, when utilized in tandem, support all the desired capabilities/functionalities of objects of that class. (Such capabilities are those manifested in the public methods of the class). A key, then, to understanding how such objects are able to exhibit their capabilities is to understand how the instance variables are used.

  Expect at least one test problem that gauges your understanding of how instance variables are utilized in a Java class that you have encountered in lecture or lab, or one that is similar. For example, you should understand how each of the instance variables of a TossableCoin or CalendarDate object contributes to that object's ability to carry out its various operations, and how the values of those variables change as a result of one or more calls to the class's mutator methods.

• Developing/Modifying Code: Expect to be asked to develop some Java code that involves the manipulation of String objects and/or arrays. Perhaps you will be given an incomplete Java instance class and asked to supply code missing from one or more of its methods. Or you will be asked to write some code that plays a simple dice game, using an instance of the SixSidedDie (or PairOfDice) class.