• A consistent style is used for the layout of the code that are presented in the course.
• A naming convention is used for the identifiers used in the code. This convention uses a lower-case letter as a prefix to indicate where an identifier is declared, i.e., i is used for a private member of a class, p is used for a parameter, and t is used for a temporary (i.e., a local) variable of a block.
• The course uses syntax diagrams to explain the syntax of the language. To make things easier, some simplifications are made to the syntax.
• The course uses UML's class diagrams to provide a visual representation of the dependencies that exist between the interfaces/classes of a program.
• The course presents tables containing a description of the some of the constructors and methods of commonly-used classes.
• The lectures of the course often refers the student to the WWW pages that document the Core APIs.
• Each chapter of the notes supporting the course has a collection of tips (i.e., hints about programming pitfalls and debugging hints).
• Each chapter of the notes supporting the course has a section entitled curios, controversies and cover-ups.
• Each chapter of the notes supporting the course has a set of exercises.