Java Fundamentals Course

Forked from the MOOC Java Course by the University of Helsinki Java MOOC, The aim with this course is to provide the learner with:

• More practice exercises of varying difficulty
• A leaner, to the point, written content

Why

Reason number one, I did not go to University, and I dropped out of school. I wanted to become a software engineer and what stood in my way for a long period of time was that, "I am too stupid" because of my clearly non-traditional background.

Today, I am a software engineer and I hold the same belief but that resilience and consistency matters much more.

My methodology of learning is simple. Practice, practice, practice. What worked for me to become a software engineer is 80% challenging yourself with practice, and 20% conceptual learning. My aim is to provide that access to practice, enough that your brain will go numb (I have completed all the exercises in this course).

Reason number two, I strongly dislike how wealth blocks people from STEM fields so here's a course for free built on top of the already great MOOC Java course by Uni of Helsinki.

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🚀 Quickstart (Getting Started for Anyone)

If you have just cloned or forked this repository, follow these steps to get started immediately:

1. Prerequisites

• JDK 17 or 21 (LTS): Verify your installed Java version:

  java -version

• Git: For local version control and terminal practice.

2. Verify Your Environment

Test that Gradle compiles and all existing tests pass:

./gradlew test

(On Windows, use gradlew.bat test)

3. Repository Architecture

The repository separates conceptual guides, exercise starter code, and test suites:

src/
├── main/java/partXX/sYY<name>/
│   ├── <n>-<name>.md               <-- Spoiler-free conceptual guide
│   └── exercises/                  <-- Package: partXX.sYY<name>.exercises
│       ├── <ExerciseName>.md       <-- Detailed specification & stdin/stdout table
│       └── <ExerciseName>.java     <-- Clean starter template
└── test/java/partXX/sYY<name>/
    └── exercises/
        └── <ExerciseName>Test.java <-- Independent JUnit 5 test suite

4. How to Practice

1. Read the Conceptual Guide: Open src/main/java/partXX/sYY<name>/<n>-<name>.md. Guides are deliberately crafted with alternative examples so they never spoil the exercises.
2. Open the Exercise Spec: Read exercises/<ExerciseName>.md for requirements and sample outputs.
3. Implement Solo: Write your solution in exercises/<ExerciseName>.java.
4. Run Terminal Verification: Run the exercise's specific test suite:

   ./gradlew test --tests "partXX.sYY<name>.exercises.<ExerciseName>Test"

5. Commit Your Work: Stage and commit your code via the terminal to build git fluency.

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🤖 AI Mentorship & Modular Skills (Tool-Agnostic)

This repository is designed to be paired with an AI coding assistant (Antigravity, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, or local LLMs) acting as a Socratic Mentor.

All agent behaviors and core rules are specified in AGENTS.md (with synchronized shims in CLAUDE.md and GEMINI.md).

Modular Skills

Specialized workflows live in .agents/skills/:

Skill	Trigger / Command	Purpose
mooc-create-md-and-exercises	Scaffolding a new section	Scrapes Helsinki MOOC, modernizes Java advice (LTS standards), redacts spoilers from conceptual examples, generates exercise specs/starters, builds JUnit 5 tests, and calibrates 1–7 star difficulty ratings.
mooc-verify-exercise	"Look, I finished this" or /mooc-verify	Audits test suites for cheat loopholes (hardcoded outputs, missing boundaries), hardens JUnit 5 tests, verifies execution with Gradle, and delivers Socratic code reviews.

Tip

Progress Tracking: Tracking style is left entirely to the learner. You can use local notes (e.g. Obsidian, markdown logs, or the roadmap checklist below).

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⚔️ Rules of Engagement (Methodology)

To ensure genuine mastery and eliminate copy-pasting:

1. No Free Answers: The AI mentor provides mental models, invariant checks, and pseudocode flow—never raw Java implementation code.
2. Standardized Star Calibration: Exercises follow a 1–7 difficulty scale. The standard MOOC curriculum is capped at 3–4 stars; custom progressive overload drills scale from 5 to 7 stars.
3. Automated Verification: Rather than relying on broken or rigid remote runners, all logic is verified locally with custom JUnit 5 test suites.
4. Terminal Autonomy: All git commands and test invocations are run by the learner.

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🗺️ The Roadmap (Table of Contents)

• Part 1.1–1.6: Getting Started (Printing, Variables, Conditionals)
• Part 1.65: Applied Logic & Problem-Solving Drills (In Progress)
• Part 2: Repeating Functionality (Loops & Methods)
• Part 3: Lists and Arrays
• Part 4: Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
• Part 5: Overloading and Objects in Lists
• Part 6: Objects within Objects (Testing)
• Part 7: Programming Paradigms & Algorithms
• Part 8: HashMaps and Data Organization
• Part 9: Inheritance and Interfaces
• Part 10: Useful Techniques (Streams & Regex)
• Part 11: Exceptions and File Processing
• Part 12: Type Parameters
• Part 13: Graphical User Interfaces (JavaFX)
• Part 14: Data Visualization

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🔗 Resources

• Official Course: University of Helsinki Java Programming
• Agent Instructions: AGENTS.md | GEMINI.md | CLAUDE.md

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💡 The "Aha!" Log (Wall of Triumphs)

Record notes here whenever you hit a major conceptual roadblock and break through:

• Part 1.1: Realized that System.out.println() requires a semicolon at the end, and text must be wrapped in double-quotes to be treated as a String parameter.
• Part 1.6: Discovered De Morgan's Laws: inverting a && b becomes !a || !b, which makes guard clauses and early rejection checks much cleaner.