The exercises are flexible. They are designed to provide help according to the needs of the student. For example, some students will simply complete the exercise given the information in the course notes; some students may want a few hints while others may want a step-by-step guide to successfully complete a particular exercise. Students may use as much or as little help as they need per exercise. Moreover, since complete solutions are also provided, students can skip a few exercises and still be able to arrive at a complete solution.

Links from the text to the exercises are provided to gain experience with the particular element being discussed. There is a many-to-many relationship from text to exercise and vice-versa--there may be many areas of the text that point to the same exercise.

Individual exercises are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that, when combined, result in a complete solution to a programming problem. Each exercise consists of:

• A goal, and sometimes subgoals.
• A working applet demonstrating the expected behavior.
• A help file that describes hints, suggestions, and a correct path to a solution.
• The complete solution source code.
• Links back to relevant sections of the course notes.

Note: If you want help on an individual and more personal basis, you can access the Java Developer Connection "Training Office Hours" when you can direct your questions online to the AWT Short Course instructor.