Joel Adams is Professor of Computer Science at Calvin College, and has been teaching undergraduate computer science since 1984. He spends each July directing the Imaginary Worlds Camp, teaching middle school students how to program using Alice. He spent the Fall 2005 semester at Carnegie Mellon as a member of the Alice team.

Alice in Action with Java, an innovative new text by Joel Adams, provides CS1 users with a meaningful and motivating introduction to object-oriented programming. Using a spiral pedagogy, Adams introduces key object-oriented topics using Alice 2.0, then circles back to the same concepts in Java. Alice was developed to help teach introductory programming techniques in a less syntax-intensive environment, and addresses some of the barriers that currently prevent many users from successfully learning to program. By initially introducing basic concepts in Alice, users will have a positive first programming experience and a foundation on which to build when they revisit those concepts in Java.