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JavaFAQ Home » Java Lectures by Anatoliy Malyarenko
Your first cup of Java
by Anatoliy
Malyarenko
Today we publish first Java Lecture by Anatoliy Malyarenko.
We are very thankful to him that he gave his permission to publish all of them (25 Java Lectures) on our site! If
you starting with Java, the Java Lectures by Anatoly is best way to go.
Very easy to understand, excellent style of presentation - you will read them in one breath  . Very logical
presentation, step by step - the lectures are prepared by professional mathematician! . Try it, compile your
first Java program right now!
Abstract
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Contents of the lecture.
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A checklist.
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Creating your first application.
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Creating your first applet.
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About the Java technology.
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What can Java technology do?
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How will Java technology change your life?
A checklist
To write your first program, you need:
- The JavaTM 2 Platform, Standard Edition. You can download it here: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
Make sure you download the SDK, not the JRE.
- A text editor. We use RealJ. You can find it here.
Creating your first application
Your first program, HelloWorldApp, will simply display the greeting "Hello world!". To
create this program, you will:
Create a source file. A source file contains text, written in the Java programming
language, that you and other programmers can understand.
Compile the source file into a bytecode file. The compiler, javac, takes your source
file and translates its text into instructions that the Java Virtual Machine (Java VM) can
understand. The compiler converts these instructions into a bytecode file.
 Run
the program contained in the bytecode file. The Java interpreter installed on
your computer implements the Java VM. This interpreter takes your bytecode file and
carries out the instructions by translating them into instructions that your computer can
understand.
So, you've heard that with the Java programming language, you can "write once, run
anywhere." This means that when you compile your program, you don't generate instructions
for one specific platform. Instead, you generate Java bytecodes, which are instructions for the
Java Virtual Machine (Java VM). If your platform -- whether it's Windows, UNIX, MacOS, or
an Internet browser -- has the Java VM, it can understand those bytecodes.
Creating a source file
Start RealJ, click "New Project..." on the Project menu. In the dialog that follows, type
in a name HelloWorldApp and choose the "Application Project" radio button. Then click "OK".
RealJ will then automatically generate a Java source file for your application class. You are
prompted to save the project, and when you do you should create a new folder for it, since the
Java source files will be saved in the same folder as the project.
You must then edit the Java file to create your own application. Type the following code:
The source code:
| Code: |
/**
* File: HelloWorld.java
* Description: First application
* Author: your name
* Mail: your e-mail address
*/
class HelloWorldApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Display "Hello World!"
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}
}
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Be careful when you type. Type all code, commands, and file names exactly as shown.
The Java compiler and interpreter are case-sensitive, so you must capitalise consistently.
HelloWorldApp is not helloworldapp
Save this code to a file. From the menu bar, select File --> Save.
Compiling a source file
From the Start menu, select Programs --> Accessories -->Command Prompt. Change
your current directory to the directory where your file is located.
If you enter dir at the prompt, you should see your file:
You can compile the application by choosing "Build" from the Build menu.The compiler has generated a Java bytecode
file, HelloWorldApp.class.
At the
prompt, type dir to see the new file that was generated:
Now that you have a .class file, you can run your program.
Run the program
Run your program by choosing "Run Application" from the Build menu. Now you should
see:
Congratulations! Your program works.Creating your first applet
HelloWorldApp is an example of a Java application, a stand-alone program. Now you
will create a Java applet called HelloWorld, which also displays the greeting "Hello world!".
Unlike HelloWorldApp, however, the applet runs in a Java-enabled Web browser such as
Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
To create this applet, you'll perform the basic steps as before: create a Java source file;
compile the source file; and run the program.
Creating a Java source file
Start RealJ, click "New Project..." on the Project menu. In the dialog that follows, type in
a name HelloWorld for your main applet class, and choose the "Applet Project" radio button.Then click "OK". RealJ
will then automatically generate a Java source file for your applet class,
and an HTML file that can be used to launch the applet. You are prompted to save the project,
and when you do you should create a new folder for it, since the Java and html source files will
be saved in the same folder as the project.
You must then edit the Java file to create your own applet. Type the following code:
The source code
| Code: |
/**
* File: HelloWorld.java
* Description: First applet
* Author: your name
* Mail: your e-mail address
*/
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.Graphics;
public class HelloWorld extends Applet {
public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.drawString("Hello world!", 50, 25);
}
}
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Save this code.
You also need an HTML file to accompany your applet. Fortunately, RealJ generates
this file automatically under the name Example1.html.
Compiling the source file
Choose "Build" from the Build menu to compile the applet. The compiler should generate
a Java bytecode file, HelloWorld.class.
Running the program
Although you can view your applets using a Web browser, you may find it easier to test
your applets using the simple appletviewer application that comes with the JavaTM Platform.
Choose "Run Applet" from the Build menu. Now you should see:
Congratulations! Your applet works.
An additional feature is that you can open the HTML file in a Web browser by opening
the HTML file (double-click its icon in the class browser) and choosing "Open in Web Browser"
from the Build menu. Another way to do this is to right-click on the file name in the class
browser and choose "Open in Web Browser" from the pop-up menu.
The Java programming language
Java technology is both a programming language and a platform.
The Java programming language is a high-level language that can be characterised by
all of the following buzzwords:
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Simple
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Object oriented
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Distributed
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Interpreted
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Robust
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Secure
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Architecture neutral
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Portable
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High performance
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Multi-threaded
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Dynamic
With most programming languages, you either compile or interpret a program so that you
can run it on your computer. The Java programming language is unusual in that a program
is both compiled and interpreted. With the compiler, first you translate a program into an
intermediate language called Java bytecodes -- the platform-independent codes interpreted
by the interpreter on the Java platform. The interpreter parses and runs each Java bytecode
instruction on the computer. Compilation happens just once; interpretation occurs each time
the program is executed. The following figure illustrates how this works.
You can think of Java bytecodes as the machine code instructions for the Java Virtual
Machine (Java VM). Every Java interpreter, whether it's a development tool or a Web browser
that can run applets, is an implementation of the Java VM.
Java bytecodes help make "write once, run anywhere" possible. You can compile your
program into bytecodes on any platform that has a Java compiler. The bytecodes can then be
run on any implementation of the Java VM. That means that as long as a computer has a Java
VM, the same program written in the Java programming language can run on Windows 2000,
a Solaris workstation, or on an iMac.
The Java platform
A platform is the hardware or software environment in which a program runs. We've
already mentioned some of the most popular platforms like Windows 2000, Linux, Solaris,
and MacOS. Most platforms can be described as a combination of the operating system and
hardware. The Java platform differs from most other platforms in that it's a software-only
platform that runs on top of other hardware-based platforms.
The Java platform has two components:
- The Java Virtual Machine (Java VM)
- The Java Application Programming Interface (Java API)
You've already been introduced to the Java VM. It's the base for the Java platform and
is ported onto various hardware-based platforms.
The Java API is a large collection of ready-made software components that provide many
useful capabilities, such as graphical user interface (GUI) widgets. The Java API is grouped
into libraries of related classes and interfaces; these libraries are known as packages.
The following figure depicts a program that's running on the Java platform. As the figure
shows, the Java API and the virtual machine insulate the program from the hardware.
Native code is code that after you compile it, the compiled code runs on a specific
hardware platform. As a platform-independent environment, the Java platform can be a bit
slower than native code. However, smart compilers, well-tuned interpreters, and just-in-time
bytecode compilers can bring performance close to that of native code without threatening
portability.
What can Java technology do?
The most common types of programs written in the Java programming language are
applets and applications. If you've surfed the Web,
you're probably already familiar with
applets. An applet is a program that adheres to certain conventions that allow it to run within
a Java-enabled browser.
However, the Java programming language is not just for writing cute, entertaining applets
for the Web. The general-purpose, high-level Java programming language is also a powerful
software platform. Using the generous API, you can write many types of programs.
An application is a standalone program that runs directly on the Java platform. A special
kind of application known as a server serves and supports clients on a network. Examples of
servers are Web servers, proxy servers, mail servers, and print servers.
How does the API support all these kinds of programs? It does so with packages of
software components that provide a wide range of functionality. Every full implementation of
the Java platform gives you the following features:
- The essentials: Objects, strings, threads, numbers, input and output, data structures,
system properties, date and time, and so on.
- Applets: The set of conventions used by applets.
- Networking:
URLs, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), UDP (User Datagram
Protocol), sockets, and IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.
- Internationalisation: Help for writing programs that can be localised for users worldwide.
Programs can automatically adapt to specific locales and be displayed in the appropriate
language.
- Security: Both low level and high level, including electronic signatures, public and private
key management, access control, and certificates.
The Java platform also has APIs for 2D and 3D graphics, accessibility, servers,
collaboration, telephony, speech, animation, and more. The following figure depicts what is
included in the Java 2 SDK.
How will Java technology change your life?
I can't promise you fame, fortune, or even a job if you learn the Java programming
language. Still, it is likely to make your programs better and requires less effort than other
languages. I believe that Java technology will help you do the following:
- Get started quickly: Although the Java programming language is a powerful object-oriented language, it's
easy to learn, especially for programmers already familiar with C
or C++.
- Write less code: Comparisons of program metrics (class counts, method counts, and so
on) suggest that a program written in the Java programming language can be four times
smaller than the same program in C++.
- Write better code: The Java programming language encourages good coding practices,
and its garbage collection helps you avoid memory leaks. Its object orientation, its
JavaBeans component architecture, and its wide-ranging, easily extendible API let you
reuse other people's tested code and introduce fewer bugs.
- Develop programs more quickly: Your development time may be as much as twice as
fast versus writing the same program in C++. Why? You write fewer lines of code and it
is a simpler programming language than C++.
- Avoid platform dependencies with 100% Pure Java: You can keep your program
portable by avoiding the use of libraries written in other languages.
- Write once, run anywhere: Because 100% Pure Java programs are compiled into
machine-independent bytecodes, they run consistently on any Java platform.
- Distribute software more easily: You can upgrade applets easily from a central server.
Applets take advantage of the feature of allowing new classes to be loaded "on the fly,"
without recompiling the entire program.
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