AP Computer Science A

This is a resource for teachers and students for AP Computer Science A and has recently been updated. This curriculum follows the newly revised 2025 College Board curriculum, which consists of 4 units. In addition, the emphasis is to help students learn how to code 2D arcade games using Processing. In particular, students will work on writing a full platformer game like Super Mario from scratch.

Lecture Notes

The following powerpoint lecture slides are adapted from the book Building Java Programs: A Back to Basics Approach by Stuart Reges and Marty Stepp as well as the Runestone's CS Awesome curriculum.

Unit 1: Using Objects and Methods

Unit 2: Selection and Iteration

(*Optional*)Computer Animation with Processing

Unit 3: Class Creation

Unit 4: Data Collections

Preparing for the AP Exam

How to Write a Platformer Game in JavaHTML

In this short video series course, we will learn how to write a platformer (or side-scrolling) game like Super Mario. We will write this game from scratch with very basic algebra without relying on any physics engine! Here's a short 2-minute preview of the game. The entire Youtube playlist for this curriculum can be found here. The webpage including labs for the curriculum is here.

Coding Challenges

A series of coding challenges. Most are mathematical in focus and require some trignometry. The distribution code is included and provides a template for completing the code. Processing is used for the animation challenges.

This animation challenge simulates a ball drop on an uneven ground. (Demo, Tutorial, Distribution Code) Solutions can be found here.

This animation challenge simulates pulling a string with the mouse. (Demo, Tutorial, Distribution Code)

This animation challenge simulates collisions of billiard balls in 2D. (Tutorial, Distribution Code) Solutions to the two-ball case and the many-ball case with the glitch fix.

Final Projects

Below are some of the most creative programming projects from my students at Boston Latin School. All are written in Java using the Processing IDE and ported to Javascript using ProcessingJS for the browser. I have only tested this on Google Chrome. Let me know if there are any errors. The basic requirements are that their programs are object-oriented with at least three or more objects and that inheritance and polymorphisms are used in a sensible way. Click on the project title to play.