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Ben Black
Ben Black has been programming Java for a year. His motto is once you
have learned the basics, you have conquered the language.
He is the main webmaster
of the Java resource site Cookie Nest -
www.cookienest.com.
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Java Basic - Introduction
What is the point of Java, who needs it and does it come
in a bag or jar?
Welcome to the Java Manual, I'm hoping over the next couple of
pages to teach you how to become not just a programmer, but the
ultimate programmer, the Java programmer. So sit back, relax
and get ready to be informed and entertained by Java. When I say
Java, you might first think of the stuff that you drink or that
island on the other side of the world (unless you live there). Well
wipe your brain of that meaning and replace it with programming,
because Java is (and was since 1995) a brand spanking new
programming language. Since then it has grown, people have become
more interested, and I started up
this site.
Java actually appeared in 1991, written in 18 months at Sun
Microsystems, but it was called Oak. It was created to use
internally at Sun, (by the way that isn't, Sun, the newspaper in
England), as they had a load of different computers and they wanted a
language which could work on all of them. Then in 1995 someone
thought that the general public might like Oak; luckily they renamed
it Java. It became an over night hit, mainly because Java was
perfect for the internet.
It was perfect for the internet, not just because it was an
object-oriented programming language (we'll talk about this factor
later), but also because when Java code is compiled, it is made into
bytecode. When you compile other code, in other languages, you
usually make an .exe file. In this file is all the machine-level code
is needed to run the program. Java doesn't do this, instead Java
uses the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which contains
all the machine-level code. The JVM first needs to be
installed on your computer and then you can run your Java programs.
So this means that your compiled Java program don't need the
machine-level code, reducing the file greatly. This makes Java
programs very small, and also very easy to download from the
internet. Great. This could also explain why you don't download C++
programs from the internet and run them in your browser; it would
take at least an hour.
And so Java became popular and is now a major language, which is
growing every day. So if you want a piece of the action you'd better
start learning.
If you need any help, or you find a mistake in the tutorial,
please get in contact with us at contact@cookienest.com or
even better go to the forums at http://www.cookienest.com/.
New on the Java Boutique:
New Review:
Time Management Made Easy with the Quartz Enterprise Job Scheduler
Why not just use the Java timer API? This open source scheduling
API boasts simplicity, ease-of-integration, a well-rounded feature
set, and it's free!
New Applet:
Reverse Complement
Reverse Complement is a simple applet that converts DNA or RNA
sequences into three useful formats.
Elsewhere on internet.com:
WebDeveloper Java
Lots of Java information on webdeveloper.com
WDVL Java
Thorough Java resource at the Web Developer's Virtual Library.
ScriptSearch Java
Hundreds of free Java code files to download.
jGuru: Your View of the Java Universe
Customizable portal with online training, FAQs, regular news updates, and tutorials.
