Teaching image-processing programming in Java

Image processing (IP) can be taught very effectively by complementing the basic lectures with computer laboratories where the participants can actively manipulate and process images. This offering can be made even more attractive by allowing the students to develop their own IP code within a reasonable time frame. A designed system to be as "student friendly" as possible is presented. The software is built around ImageJ, a freely available, full-featured, and user-friendly program for image analysis. The students can walk away from the course with an IP system that is operational. Using the ImageAccess interface layer, they can easily program both ImageJ plug-ins and Internet applets. The system that we have described may also appeal to practitioners as it offers simple, full-proof way of developing professional level IP software.