Welcome to this introductory course on Java! The course is intended to help you start programming in Java from little or no prior experience. One of the best ways to start or review a programming language is to work on a simple project. These exercises are designed to teach basic Java programming skills to help you design a temperature controller.

Temperature control is found in many applications such as home or office HVAC, manufacturing processes, transportation, and life sciences. Even our bodies regulate temperature to a specific set point. This project is to regulate the temperature of the TCLab. Each TCLab has thermochromic (changes color with temperature) paint that turns from black to purple when the temperature reaches the target temperature of 37°C (99°F).

One of the unique things about this course is that you work on basic elements to help you with a temperature control project. You will see your Java code have a real effect by adjusting heaters to maintain a target temperature, just like a thermostat in a home or office.

Program the TCLab to maintain the temperature at 37°C. Display the heater level with an LED indicator as the program is adjusting the temperature. Measure the temperature and heater values over a 10 minute evaluation period.

For this course, imagine that you are tasked with maintaining three eggs at the perfect temperature to incubate them to maturity. Your Java program, coupled with the TCLab hardware, is the perfect solution for this task.

There are 11 lessons and a final project to help you with the objective of designing the temperature control for the incubator. You will need to have an IDE in which to write and run your code. The IDE used in this course is Eclipse.

1. Overview
2. Debugging
3. Variables
4. Printing
5. User Input
6. Operators
7. Loops
8. If Statements
9. Arrays and ArrayLists
10. Methods
11. Classes and Objects
12. Final Project

You will need a TCLab kit to complete the exercises and they are available for purchase on Amazon.

The JDK (Java Development Kit) is the software that allows your computer to compile and read Java code. If your computer doesn't already have it installed, install it before continuing the course.