This introduction to Java is provided as a continuing education
service by A-Square, Inc. The course was developed by Jan Aminoff
and reflects experiences from previous presentations. It has been
offered over the Internet in various forms since 2000. The first
face to face instance of this course was sponsored by IEEE and
scheduled at the University of Maryland, in October, 2000. The
second instance, also with IEEE, was scheduled at the University
of Maryland in May, 2001.See also Rart® at http://www.rart.com
.
A unique feature of Java is its graphics capabilities which are used to develop user interfaces as well as platform independent animations. This course will emphasize the graphics of Java and use animations as a means to demonstrate the powerful capabilities inherent in object oriented programming generally and Java particularly. It can be seen as an introduction using a subset of Java. The course teaches the fundamentals of Java and goes into some dept with regard to graphics without going into the the richness of detail that would be required of a course touching even superficially all the application areas where Java has been enriched.
The course is intended to be offered as a face to face series of perhaps eight one hour lectures. The Exercises, however, are intended for self study. A student with some experience with the platform should be able to complete the closed end exercises all in one evening, but may be inspired to spend considerable time on the open ended exercises.
After having attended the class, a student will have a general idea of the intent and the capabilities of Java, especially with regard to its graphics possibilities. If the student takes the time to do all the exercises, he or she should be able to do some useful and interesting customization's based on programs demonstrated during the course. The course leads the student to where he or she should be able to begin to use the Rart system to create Random Art.
Lecture and Demonstrations
Exercises
Software for exercises
References
Acknowledgments
The following topics are covered in roughly the indicated order: (The lecture notes are not yet part of the Internet accessible course):
History of Java. The intent to make Java a platform
independent net centric programming language. How Sun has
developed and promoted Java. The evolution of Java, C# and Java,
J2ME, for handheld devices. The Java Development Kit, JDK. Java
today with responsibility for the language by Oracle. The two main
Java branches, Java SE and Java EE.
Java Basics. Applications and Applets. Demonstration of the Welcome Applet. Classes, Objects, and Methods. Byte code and the Java Virtual Machine. Platform Independence. The Applet HTML-tag.
Java Syntax. Walk through of Source of Banner1 with Demo of Banner1. The principle of Libraries. Basics of the Abstract Windowing Toolkit, AWT.
Object Oriented Programming. Structure of an Object Oriented language. Encapsulation and Inheritance. Abstract Classes. Banner2.
Java fundamentals used for Rart. The abstract class Universe and what it prescribes. uParameters. The Rart Development Kit. Banner3. The RRL rartrunner
The principles of Rart, Random Art. The Eggs universe. The RRlet rartrunner.
How to be a Rartist. Check out and modify Lines and Flakes. How to build your own universe. The Rart application environment, rartrunner RR11.
In the Exercises, we develop Java applets, that is
programs that are written in Java, source code, and
compiled to byte code. Personal Computers, PCs, are boxes
with hardware. Their main user characteristics are provided
through the operating system that integrate the hardware and
provide the user interfaces. The combination of PC hardware and
operating system is often called a platform. One of the
main advantages of Java is that, once a Java program has been
compiled to byte code it can run without any modifications on many
platforms. In this course, the exercises can be completed using
the most common platforms, Windows, Linux/Unix and Mac OSX. (That
is the intent. Reality may take some time to catch up. The windows
version is supported as of January 2003, with Linux shortly
thereafter. It looks as if Mac OSX will have some catch up to do
before all the pieces are in place).
As of 2021 Java applets over the internet are no longer supported
by the most common platforms. However, application development is
still very much supported and available for Microsoft and Windows
10 (See Exercise 5) as well as from Apple and OS and other
hardware with Unix and Linux. Java continues to be the most
commonly used language for software development on the planet.
The details of how to do the exercises are given in How to do Exercises in a platform independent way, but with links to any platform specific details. The Introduction to Java Exercises are displayed and commented briefly in a separate document actually Lecture Notes for JICC7
For the purposes of this class we will assume that you have the JDK 1.1.8 installed and that you have a Java enabled browser. We will also assume that you will use a simple text editor to enter and edit Java source as well as HTML documents.
Exercise 0. Compile and execute the Welcome applet. Modify and repeat until happy.
Exercise 1. Compile and execute the Banner1 applet. Modify and repeat.
Exercise 2. Compile and execute the Banner2 applet. Modify and repeat.
Exercise 3. Compile and execute Banner3, a simple Rart universe. Execute in RRL rartrunner applet. Modify and repeat.
Exercise 4. Compile and execute the Eggs universe.Execute in the RRlet rartrunner applet. Modify and repeat
Exercise 5. Compile and execute the Lines and Flakes universes, Execute in the RR11 rartrunner application. Modify and repeat.
These exercises require a Java development environment supporting Java as defined by JDK 1.1.8. This is readily available as a download from Sun ( about 8.8 Mb). Exercises 0, 1 and 2 require this environment only. If you are downloading and installing JDK for the first time, you should be careful to follow the directions including setting the CLASSPATH variable. See http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/download-jdk-windows.html .
Exercises 3, 4 and 5, require software from A-Square in addition
to that from Sun. This software is part of the Rart Development
Kit, RDK, and can be provided after request to A-Square on a CD. The RART
CD will, in addition to the required software, have a fairly
complete mirror of the JavaIntro030115 web site. For the CD,
A-Square requires a fee for postage and handling. Please allow one
to two weeks for delivery and send a check for US$15.00 (fifteen
dollars). As of 2021 Jan aminoff has moved to Sweden and may be
reached at jan AT rart.com, if you understand what I mean.
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As of 2021, the listed references below are mostly unavailable. A
good starting point is instead, as always, Wikipedia.
The field is moving quite rapidly so books become obsolete or
replaced with newer editions. It is necessary to consider any book
in the context of what version of JDK it covers. In this tutorial
we will deal with material stabilized with JDK 1.0.2. However, we
will also refer to JDK 1.1.x, in particular the newer event model.
In August 1999, Sun released JDK 1.1.8 as a stable release.
However, JDK 1.2 was also released early in 1999 and to confuse
matters somewhat Sun decided to rename 1.2 as 2.0 and you will see
references to Java 2.0 on books, occasionally in the form of a
sticker on top of 1.2. For people wanting to have additional
references we recommend some listed below (although you might wish
to defer any acquisition until you know that you will need the
very latest). I would like to recommend one book in particular: JAVA
in a Nutshell, Second Edition, David Flanagan, O'Reilly
1997. It is complete, well written, and dedicated to Java through
JDK 1.1.8. Unfortunately it it was out of print in January 2003.
The next best thing would now (January 2003) be a combination of
the following two books in the Nutshell series. Java in a
Nutshell, Fourth Edition, David Flanagan, O'Reilly
2002.which describes the Language fundamentals and Java
Foundation Classes in A Nutshell, David Flanagan, O'reilly
1999, which describes the tools to build graphic user interfaces
as well as other graphics.
The following books are updated editions of well considered
earlier releases:
From Sun Microsystems Press: ( See http://www.sun.com/books/java_series.html)
Core JAVA 1.1 Volume I-Fundamentals, Cay S. Horstman and Gary Cornell, Sun Microsystems Press 1997. The 600 plus pages of this book covers well the materials in this tutorial. It is directed to persons with some programming experience and is a useful reference offering good programming patterns to emulate. The book is accompanied by a CD including JDK 1.1.2 and a sample excellent editor: WinEdit.
Core JAVA 1.1 Volume II - Advanced Features, Cay S. Horstman and Gary Cornell, Sun Microsystems Press 1998. Another 600 plus pages. You may wish to add this book to your library if you have some specifics you'd like to know about, but you can do about anything related to Applet animations with Volume I..
Core Java 2 Volume I - Fundamentals, Cay S. Horstman and Gary Cornell, Sun Microsystems Press 1999, 750 pages.Updated for Java 2. With CD.
Core Java 2 Volume II - Advanced Features, Cay S. Horstman and Gary Cornell, Sun Microsystems Press 2000, 920 pages.Updated for Java 2.With CD with Java2 SDK Standard Edition v. 1.2 for Windows.
Just Java 1.2 Fourth Edition, Peter van der Linden, Sun Microsystems Press 1999. This is a very good book for the intelligent and interested reader. In its 700 plus pages it provides "the most painless way to learn Java and object oriented programming".
From O'Reilly: (See http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/javanut3/)
JAVA in a Nutshell Second Edition, David Flanagan, O'Reilly 1997. This books greatest value is as a reference to Java through 1.1 which in compact and recoverable form lists details of JAVA classes not easily found elsewhere. A deluxe edition includes a searchable CD.
Java in a Nutshell 3rd Edition, David Flanagan, O'Reilly 1999. As Java has developed after JDK 1.1, the main additions have been in the form of new areas which have been provided with specific functionalities through packages of classes. It makes sense for this reason to split the references according to such areas. Accordingly, for a complete coverage, you will also need Java Foundation Classes in a Nutshell (which covers AWT in addition to other GUI subjects) as well as Java Enterprise in a Nutshell which includes descriptions of classes of particular interest to server-side or enterprise programmers.
As of 2021, you should look for internet resourses starting with
Wikipedia
Java
The ultimate Java Authority from Sun Microsystems: :http://java.sun.com/
Excellent Tutorials are listed on http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/
The central listing of Java resources: http://www.gamelan.com
A good and comprehensive Java FAQ is maintained by Peter van der Linden: http://www.afu.com/javafaq.html
For anything to do with Rart®, Random Art: http://www.rart.com
Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc.
RART® is a registered trade mark of A-Square Inc.
The material on this page and of the pages to which this page provides an index is copyrighted and all rights reserved to A-Square, Inc.. Cambridge MA.
© A-Square, Inc. 2000-2003.