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Article:
  SSS (Small, Simple, Safe)
Subject:   learning a tool != learning a language || learning to program
Date:   2004-06-03 02:31:49
From:   Eyler
Response to: learning a tool != learning a language || learning to program

Learning Java has three rather independent aspects:
1. Java syntax
2. OO concepts: classes and objects
3. Java class library (API)


BlueJ is wonderful in the first two, but it does not supply much help for mastering the API. Small-Simple-Safe (SSS) is another approach, complementary to BlueJ, which bypasses Java syntax
altogether, and concentrates on the last two aspects.


It allows the student to invoke methods (lightning-fast) without writing any code.
It allows the instructor to write scripts that automate the invocation sequence to teach a certain topic.


I still encourage my students to use BlueJ, but once the program is written, they inspect their objects with SSS.