We will use two different programming languages for this course.
The first language, called Cinnameg, is an experimental language that is useful for covering some concepts of algorithms and programs. We will use it for roughly the first half of the course.
The second language, called Java, is a language that is in widespread use and that has a large collection of tools that go with it. We will see how to express fundamental ideas in Java, and we will also look at a few of the tools that are available.
An important principle to keep in mind with any programming language is, no matter what the state of your knowledge about the language, stay within what you know. When you write a program, use the things that you know about. As you learn more, you will have a more to choose from. But avoid guessing about what the programming language allows. Your guesses will probably be wrong.