By Brad Bowman

In an age where personal electronic devices have become a necessity, the public consumes information and interacts with the world on various operating systems using programming languages like Java, which Frankfort High School teacher Arlene Crabtree teaches her students in a new AP class.

Offered for the first time at the high school, Crabtree instructs Frankfort High School students on writing the programming language used in applications across the Internet, mobile phones and in some personal electronic devices.

In lieu of a math class, students will learn how to take math applications and logic to create applications for entertainment and utilitarian purposes while earning three hours of college credit.

Crabtree, an algebra and calculus teacher, had taken a C++ programming language course before, which some of Java borrows its syntax from. When she sat down with Advance Kentucky, a group who partners with Kentucky Department of Education to put college-level courses in high schools, they said they would help fund her training to teach the subject.

Students with Chromebooks and their own laptops use BlueJ, an intergrative Java development environment that translates the language for each device or computer Java will be used on, to write the code in the classroom.

“We will use it for numerous things,” Crabtree said. “They can write code for anything we use computers for. They have to think about a problem, what is the problem asking (like a word problem) and then design a solution.

“They have to check errors in the programming: syntax, semantics and be precise. If they are trying to write a program determining the area of a circle, they have to make sure they write the correct code using Pi.”

The students are getting familiar with the code using programs on code.org which reveal the coding for certain functions the students will learn to program.

“They are seeing what it looks like given that it is an object oriented language,” Crabtree said. “Think of a deck of cards as the class. The jack of spades is the object within that class. I can’t change the class, but I change the object as an example.”

FHS senior Abe Claxon took the class out of his interest and it’s focus on programming.

“I plan doing computer science in college and we haven’t had a lot of computer classes here,” Claxon said. “I’ve taken two years of computer applications classes and this is the first one beyond just the basic computer technical applications class. I’m interested in more software than hardware and Java will definitely help.”

Claxon said the class will apply to his college study. He plans on having a double major in mathematics and computer science.

“I liked to do programming. A dream job would be creating software,” Claxon said. “I just like being able to manipulate things on the computer to see them come to life.”

Students in the Java class will also be exposed to other programming languages like Python and Javascript, which runs in apps on smartphones to specific mechanics within a website.

For students who don’t pursue a career related to computer science, Crabtree said they still get the college credit and it makes them think.

“I call them the microwave generation. They want immediate answers and programming makes them problem solve,” Crabtree said.

“It’s like kids that open up the fridge ask mom where things are. They have to problem solve it what it boils down to. It’s a mindset, a way to think and a lot of them like playing in the programming environment.”