What is an appropriate tool for testing and debugging concurrent programs?

• Eclipse is possible, but steep initial learning curve and can become a crutch
• JaVis is possible, but it seems to exist as a paper more than as an implementation

What is an appropriate tool for visualizing programming concepts?

• BlueJ has some interesting features (designed for teaching, gives UML diagrams, allows for interactive testing)
• JaVis is possible, but may not be in a usable form yet

Should an API be provided for students for some areas?

• File I/O
• GUIs (especially early in the course)
• Networking

What is an appropriate number and difficulty of projects?