Java is the canonical language for teaching introductory programming, but its complex syntax and abundance of constructs are difficult for beginners to learn. This paper shows how object-oriented programming in Java can be made more accessible to beginners through the use of "language levels", a hierarchy of progressively richer subsets of Java. This hierarchy is implemented as an extension of the DrJava pedagogic programming environment.

Java is the canonical language for teaching introductory programming, but its complex syntax and abundance of constructs are difficult for beginners to learn. This paper shows how object-oriented programming in Java can be made more accessible to beginners through the use of "language levels", a hierarchy of progressively richer subsets of Java. This hierarchy is implemented as an extension of the DrJava pedagogic programming environment.