About This Draft

This is a draft of The Java Tutorial: Object-Oriented Programming for the Internet, a practical, online guide to writing programs in the Java language.

Note: This document reflects the 1.0.2 Java Developers Kit release.

• This Is a Work in Progress!
• How to Get the Tutorial
• What's New?
• Downloading the Tutorial
• The Tutorial in Print

This tutorial is a work in progress. At any time, it might be incomplete or buggy, and may contain bad links. We make interim versions of this tutorial available to you for two reasons:

1. So you can learn from it -- some of the information in this tutorial is not documented anywhere else.
2. So we can get feedback on this tutorial.

To help us with #2, please let us know what's confusing in these lessons, what seems unnecessary, and whether the lessons helped you at all. Write us at tutorial@java.sun.com. When sending us e-mail, please tell us which version of the tutorial you're using. For the online tutorial, tell us the "last updated" date that's at the top of this page. Also, please indicate which browser (include version number or date) you are using to view the tutorial.

The Java Tutorial lives at our Web site along with all of our other documentation. You can read it "over-the-wire" by clicking on this link to the tutorial's Trail Map or you can download the tutorial in HTML.

24 December 96 -- Miscellaneous fixes. Also, added a new lesson describing new features of the JDK for Writing Global Programs. Note that this is the only lesson in this tutorial that reflects the JDK 1.1.

6 June 96 -- Released the Sixth DRAFT. This draft is the version on which the book version is based. The book and online versions aren't exactly the same -- for example, none of the copyeditor's changes have made it into the online tutorial yet. Also, the online tutorial's figures haven't been updated to be the same as those in the book. Notable content changes since the fifth draft include:

• Finished the Common Problems pages.
• Added information on the Macintosh JDK.
• Added an applet anatomy section to Getting Started.
• Improved the talk server example in the applet communication lesson.

28 Mar 96 -- Released the Fifth DRAFT. Many pages in this draft have been rewritten or expanded upon. (If you've sent us comments and don't see them reflected in this draft, please don't be insulted -- we haven't finished incorporating reviewer comments.) Some of the notable changes include:

• Revised Application Anatomy lesson and moved it to the Getting Started trail: The Anatomy of a Java Application. We plan to write an equivalent section for applets.
• Did major rewrites of the following lessons in the Java trail: The Nuts and Bolts of the Java Language and Objects, Classes, and Interfaces.
• Added new pages to the applet overview: Adding an Applet to an HTML Page and Summary.
• Beefed up the applet threads pages: Threads in Applets.
• Added a discussion of peers to the UI trail: Details of the Component Architecture.
• Added material to the native methods trail, Integrating Native Methods into Java Programs, including passing data into and out of native methods and accessing Java objects. Details of the Component Architecture.
• Removed some trails: comparison to C/C++, troubleshooting, and tools. This information has been (or will be) incorporated into other trails/lessons.

4 Mar 96 -- Released the Fourth DRAFT Among the normal bug, typo and broken link fixes, this draft includes revisions to many of our old trails and lessons, plus this new material:

• Added a new lesson to Integrating Native Methods into Java Programs . trail.
• Added new material to and/or wrote from scratch 4 lessons in the Writing Applets . trail. Including: Creating an Applet User Interface, Communicating with Other Programs, Understanding Applet Capabilities and Restrictions, and Finishing an Applet.

24 Feb 96 -- Released the Third DRAFT Among the normal bug, typo and broken link fixes, this draft includes revisions to many of our old trails and lessons, plus this new material:

• Added a lot of new material to Creating an Applet User Interface . Please note that 3 pages are still under construction.
• Added new lessons to the Creating a User Interface . trail. Including:
  • Laying Out Components within a Container Please note that 3 pages are still under construction.
  • Using Components, the GUI Building Blocks Each component now has a page describing how to use it.
  • Working with Graphics There's now information on how to draw primitive graphics (including text) and images, plus information on performing animation. The animation pages include information on how to eliminate flashing, using update() and double buffering. They also have information on using MediaTracker.
• Added a new trail: Custom Networking and Security .
• Added a new lesson, Input and Output Streams to the Writing Java Programs trail.

23 Jan 96 -- Updated the Second DRAFT

• Updated links to point to new FCS1.0 JDK release.
• Fixed bugs where some applets and sources files were missing.
• Miscellaneous fixes of typos, bugs, and broken links.

18 Jan 96 -- Updated the Second DRAFT

• Changed the Creating a User Interface trail to reflect the event changes introduced in Beta2. Specifically, keyboard event handlers now have to return false, unless they want the event to be dropped. The Conversion example program and the overview were affected.
• Revised the structure of the tutorial to reflect what we're going to be able to finish by the time the book version is due to the printer.
• Added a very preliminary lesson on Java's object features-- Java Objects.
• Fixed various typos, bugs and broken links.

12 Dec 95 -- Updated the Second DRAFT

• Made the few changes necessary to reflect Beta2 instead of Beta.
• Fixed various typos, bugs and broken links.
• Added a new lesson, Handling Errors using Exceptions, in the Writing Java Programs trail.

13 Nov 95 -- Updated the Second DRAFT

• Made the few changes necessary to reflect Beta instead of Pre-Beta.
• Changed the name of this document from "The Java Programmer's Guide" to "The Java Language Tutorial: Object-Oriented Programming for the Internet." Why the long name? This document is going to be published as a book, and we wanted to make sure the title was as descriptive as possible, without requiring much prior knowledge of the potential buyer.
• Added ALT text to our link graphics, so that people using non-graphical browsers can understand the information the graphic was conveying.
• Added a new lesson, Using Layout Managers, in the Creating a User Interface trail.

2 Oct 95 -- Released the Second DRAFT

• Everything was updated to reflect the new APIs (except for The "run:" Protocol Handler and The "text/plain" Content Handler in the Getting Started trail).
• We fixed many typos, clarified many obfuscations, fixed broken links and miscommunications.
• We got a face-lift with new icons and a new page design.
• And, we added these trails and lessons:
  • The Writing Applets trail has a new lesson: Overview of Applets which describes how applets work and how you use the Applet class to create an applet.
  • The new Creating a User Interface trail has two new lessons: Overview of UI Elements which introduces you to the objects that the Java development environment provides for building UIs, and Arranging Components within a Container which tells you how to use each of the Components provided in the AWT.
  • We've also added the Integrating Native Methods into Java Programs trail that shows you how to integrate native methods into your Java programs.
  • And finally, two new lessons have been added to the Writing Java Programs trail: Threads of Control and Object-Oriented Programming Concepts: A Primer.

18 May 95 -- Released the First DRAFT

For your convenience, we provide the complete tutorial in HTML format in a compressed archive so that you can download it and view it locally on your computer.

Zip

You can download the tutorial packed in a zip archive. You must use an unzip utility to unpack the archive that does not restrict filenames to 8.3 names, such as winzip95.

Approximate size when compressed: 1.9 MB
Approximate size when uncompressed: 4.1 MB

Go ahead and download the zip file

tar/compress

You can download the tutorial packed in a tar/compress archive. Use the UNIX utilities "tar" and "uncompress" (or their PC or MAC equivalent) to extract the tutorial files from the archive.

Approximate size when compressed: 2.2 MB
Approximate size when uncompressed: 4.1 MB

Go ahead and download the tar/compress archive

The Java Tutorial is now available as an 831 page book. To get your copy check at your local bookstore, or you can order a copy from Addison-Wesley.