The Aquarium Lab Series is a series of mixed-length laboratory exercises that provide students with an opportunity to put introductory programming concepts to work immediately. Thus, the series is meant to be used very early in an introductory course on programming in Java.

These labs are meant to be used early in the school year, as students learn about constructing objects, using if statements and for loops, calling functions, and defining their own classes.

Downloading the Aquarium Lab Series:

Download the zip file containing the starting code files for the Aquarium Lab Series by right-clicking or shift-clicking on one of the following links: AquariumLabSeries.zip or AquariumLabSeriesUsingBlueJ.zip.

When you unzip this file, it will create a folder called AquariumLabSeries  that contains the instructions for the labs, a folder called StartingCode, and a folder containing documentation.  The StartingCode folder contains three classes you will viewing and modifying, a sub-folder with other "black-box classes" needed by the program (that you do not need to study), and a graphics library.

NOTE: Teachers may wish to download the starting source files in advance, create a project or makefile, and then provide these materials to students as a unit.

Labs in the Aquarium Lab Series

The Aquarium Lab Series consists of several mini-labs, which are meant to be short enough to complete in a single class period, and a longer lab, which may need a longer time-block or several class periods to complete.

Mini-Lab: Reading Specifications and Constructing Objects

Tasks include:

• Read several class specifications.
• Write client code to construct objects and invoke member functions:
  • Modify the main function to construct three fish in the aquarium.
  • Display the fish in the aquarium.
  • Move all three fish one space.
  • Redisplay the fish in the aquarium.

Mini-Lab: If Statements

Tasks include:

• Have each of the three fish change direction instead of getting stuck at the aquarium walls.
• Use a random number generator to give fish random colors.

Mini-Lab: For Loops

Tasks include:

• Prompt the user for how many time steps the simulation should run.
• Modify fish movement so that in each time step a fish randomly chooses whether to change direction (unless it would otherwise swim right through a wall, in which case it always changes direction).

Mini-Lab: Java Array Lists

Tasks include:

• Prompt the user for how many fish they want in the aquarium.
• Construct an array list.
• Insert fish into the array list.
• Traverse the array list to move and display all the fish in each time step.

Full-Length Lab: Implementing Classes

Tasks include:

• Modify the AquaFish class to provide methods that allow fish to ascend and descend in the aquarium.
• Move the logic of deciding how fish move from the main method to the AquaFish class.
• Flesh out a skeleton Simulation class by implementing the constructor and a step method that encapsulates the behavior for a single step through the simulation.