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About the Java Technology
Java technology is both a programming language and a platform.

The Java Programming Language

The Java programming language is a high-level language that can be

characterized by all of the following buzzwords:

Architecture
Simple
neutral
Object
Portable
oriented
Distributed High performance
Multithreaded Robust
Dynamic Secure

Each of the preceding buzzwords is explained in The Java Language

Environment , a white paper written by James Gosling and Henry
McGilton.

In the Java programming language, all source code is first written in

plain text files ending with the .java extension. Those source files are
then compiled into .class files by the javac compiler. A .class file does
not contain code that is native to your processor; it instead contains
bytecodes — the machine language of the Java Virtual Machine1 (Java
VM). The java launcher tool then runs your application with an instance
of the Java Virtual Machine.

An overview of the software development process.

Because the Java VM is available on many different operating systems,

the same .class files are capable of running on Microsoft Windows, the
Solaris TM Operating System (Solaris OS), Linux, or Mac OS. Some virtual
machines, such as the Java HotSpot virtual machine, perform
additional steps at runtime to give your application a performance
boost. This include various tasks such as finding performance
bottlenecks and recompiling (to native code) frequently used sections of
code.
 Through the Java VM, the same application is
capable of running on multiple platforms.

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
Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris OS, and Mac OS. Most platforms can
be described as a combination of the operating system and underlying
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

• The Java Application Programming Interface (API)

You've already been introduced to the Java Virtual Machine; it's the base
for the Java platform and is ported onto various hardware-based
platforms.

The API is a large collection of ready-made software components that

provide many useful capabilities. It is grouped into libraries of related
classes and interfaces; these libraries are known as packages. The next
section, What Can Java Technology Do? highlights some of the
functionality provided by the API.
 The API and Java Virtual Machine insulate the
program from the underlying hardware.

As a platform-independent environment, the Java platform can be a bit

slower than native code. However, advances in compiler and virtual
machine technologies are bringing performance close to that of native
code without threatening portability.
The terms"Java Virtual Machine" and "JVM" mean a Virtual Machine for the Java platform.
What Can Java Technology Do?

The general-purpose, high-level Java programming language is a

powerful software platform. Every full implementation of the Java
platform gives you the following features:

• Development Tools: The development tools provide everything

you'll need for compiling, running, monitoring, debugging, and
documenting your applications. As a new developer, the main
tools you'll be using are the javac compiler, the java launcher, and
the javadoc documentation tool.
• Application Programming Interface (API): The API provides the
core functionality of the Java programming language. It offers a
wide array of useful classes ready for use in your own
applications. It spans everything from basic objects, to
networking and security, to XML generation and database access,
and more. The core API is very large; to get an overview of what it
contains, consult the Java SE Development Kit 6 (JDK 6)TM

documentation.
• Deployment Technologies: The JDK software provides standard
mechanisms such as the Java Web Start software and Java Plug-
In software for deploying your applications to end users.
• User Interface Toolkits: The Swing and Java 2D toolkits make it
possible to create sophisticated Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs).
• Integration Libraries: Integration libraries such as the Java IDL
API, JDBC API, Java Naming and Directory Interface ("J.N.D.I.")
TM TM

API, Java RMI, and Java Remote Method Invocation over Internet
Inter-ORB Protocol Technology (Java RMI-IIOP Technology)
enable database access and manipulation of remote objects.
How Will Java Technology Change My Life?

We 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 written in C++.
• Write better code: The Java programming language encourages
good coding practices, and automatic garbage collection helps
you avoid memory leaks. Its object orientation, its JavaBeans TM

component architecture, and its wide-ranging, easily extendible

API let you reuse existing, tested code and introduce fewer bugs.
• Develop programs more quickly: The Java programming
language is simpler than C++, and as such, your development
time could be up to twice as fast when writing in it. Your programs
will also require fewer lines of code.
• Avoid platform dependencies: You can keep your program
portable by avoiding the use of libraries written in other
languages.
• Write once, run anywhere: Because applications written in the
Java programming language are compiled into machine-
independent bytecodes, they run consistently on any Java
platform.
• Distribute software more easily: With Java Web Start software,
users will be able to launch your applications with a single click of
the mouse. An automatic version check at startup ensures that
users are always up to date with the latest version of your
software. If an update is available, the Java Web Start software
will automatically update their installation.
"Hello World!" for the NetBeans IDE

It's time to write your first application! These detailed instructions are for users
of the NetBeans IDE. The NetBeans IDE runs on the Java platform, which
means that you can use it with any operating system for which there is a JDK 6
available. These operating systems include Microsoft Windows, Solaris OS,
Linux, and Mac OS X.

To write your first program, you'll need:

1. The Java SE Development Kit 6 (JDK 6)

2. The NetBeans IDE

Creating Your First Application

Your first application, HelloWorldApp, will simply display the greeting

"Hello World!". To create this program, you will:

Create an IDE project

When you create an IDE project, you create an environment in which to

build and run your applications. Using IDE projects eliminates
configuration issues normally associated with the javac compiler and java
launcher tools. You can build or run your application by choosing a
single menu item within the IDE.

Add code to the generated source file

A source file contains code, written in the Java programming language,

that you and other programmers can understand. As part of creating an
IDE project, a skeleton source file will be automatically generated. You
will then modify the source file to add the "Hello World!" message.
Compile the source file into a .class file

The IDE invokes the Java programming language compiler (javac), which
takes your source file and translates its text into instructions that the
Java virtual machine can understand. The instructions contained within
this file are known as bytecodes.

Run the program

The IDE invokes the Java application launcher tool (java), which uses the
Java virtual machine to run your application.

Create an IDE Project

To create an IDE project:

1. Launch the NetBeans IDE.

o On Microsoft Windows systems, you can use the NetBeans IDE
item in the Start menu.
o On Solaris OS and Linux systems, you execute the IDE launcher
script by navigating to the IDE's bin directory and typing
./netbeans.
o On Mac OS X systems, click the NetBeans IDE application icon.
2. In the NetBeans IDE, choose File | New Project.

NetBeans IDE with the File | New Project menu

item selected.

3. In the New Project wizard, expand the General category and select Java
Application as shown in the following figure:
 NetBeans IDE, New Project wizard,
Choose Project page.

4. In the Name and Location page of the wizard, do the following (as
shown in the figure below):
o In the Project Name field, type Hello World App.
o In the Create Main Class field, type helloworldapp.HelloWorldApp.
o Leave the Set as Main Project checkbox selected.
 NetBeans IDE, New Project wizard, Name
and Location page.

5. Click Finish.

The project is created and opened in the IDE. You should see the
following components:

• The Projects window, which contains a tree view of the components of

the project, including source files, libraries that your code depends on,
and so on.
• The Source Editor window with a file called HelloWorldApp open.
• The Navigator window, which you can use to quickly navigate between
elements within the selected class.
 NetBeans IDE with the
HelloWorldApp project open.
Add Code to the Generated Source File

Because you have left the Create Main Class checkbox selected in the
New Project wizard, the IDE has created a skeleton class for you. You
can add the "Hello World!" message to the skeleton code by replacing
the line:

// TODO code application logic here

with the line:

System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.

Optionally, replace these four lines of generated code

/**
*
* @author
*/
with these lines:

/**
* The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
* simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
*/
These four lines are a code comment and do not affect how the program runs.
Later sections of this tutorial explain the use and format of code comments.

Be Careful When You Type

Type
all code, commands, and file names exactly as shown. Both the
compiler (javac) and launcher (java) are case-sensitive, so you
must capitalize consistently.

HelloWorldApp helloworldapp

Save the change by choosing File | Save.

The file should look something like the following:

/*
* HelloWorldApp.java
*
* Created on February 5, 2006, 6:43 PM
 *
* To change this template, choose Tools | Template Manager
* and open the template in the editor.
*/

package helloworldapp;

/**
* The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
* simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
*/
public class HelloWorldApp {

/** Creates a new instance of HelloWorldApp */

public HelloWorldApp() {
}

/**
* @param args the command line arguments
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
}

}
Compile the Source File into a .class File

To compile your source file, choose Build | Build Main Project from the
IDE's main menu.

The Output window opens and displays output similar to what you see
in the following figure

Output window showing results of building the

HelloWorld project.

If the build output concludes with the statement BUILD SUCCESSFUL,

congratulations! You have successfully compiled your program!

If the build output concludes with the statement BUILD FAILED, you
probably have a syntax error in your code. Errors are reported in the
Output window as hyper-linked text. You double-click such a hyper-link
to navigate to the source of an error. You can then fix the error and once
again choose Build | Build Main Project.

When you build the project, the bytecode file HelloWorldApp.class is

generated. You can see where the new file is generated by opening the
Files window and expanding the Hello World App/build/classes/helloworldapp
node as shown in the following figure.
 Files window, showing the generated .class
file.

Now that you have built the project, you can run your program.

Run the Program

From the IDE's menu bar, choose Run | Run Main Project.

The next figure shows what you should now see.

The program prints "Hello World!" to the Output window

(along with other output from the build script).

Congratulations! Your program works!

A Closer Look at the "Hello World!" Application

Now that you've seen the "Hello World!" application (and perhaps even
compiled and run it), you might be wondering how it works. Here again
is its code:
/**
* The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
* simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
*/
class HelloWorldApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
}
}
The "Hello World!" application consists of three primary components:
source code comments, the HelloWorldApp class definition, and the main
method. The following explanation will provide you with a basic
understanding of the code, but the deeper implications will only become
apparent after you've finished reading the rest of the tutorial.

Source Code Comments

The following bold text defines the comments of the "Hello World!"
application:
/**
* The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
* simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
*/
class HelloWorldApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
}
}
Comments are ignored by the compiler but are useful to other
programmers. The Java programming language supports three kinds of
comments:

/* text */
The compiler ignores everything from /* to */.
/** documentation */

This indicates a documentation comment (doc comment, for short). The

compiler ignores this kind of comment, just like it ignores comments
that use /* and */. The javadoc tool uses doc comments when preparing
automatically generated documentation. For more information on
javadoc, see the Javadoc tool documentation .
TM

// text
The compiler ignores everything from // to the end of the line.

The HelloWorldApp Class Definition

The following bold text begins the class definition block for the "Hello
World!" application:
/**
* The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
* simply displays "Hello World!" to the standard output.
*/
class HelloWorldApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
}
}

As shown above, the most basic form of a class definition is:

class name {
...
}

The keyword class begins the class definition for a class named name,
and the code for each class appears between the opening and closing
curly braces marked in bold above. Chapter 2 provides an overview of
classes in general, and Chapter 4 discusses classes in detail. For now it
is enough to know that every application begins with a class definition.

The main Method

The following bold text begins the definition of the main method:
/**
* The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
* simply displays "Hello World!" to the standard output.
*/
class HelloWorldApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!"); //Display the string.
}
}
In the Java programming language, every application must contain a
main method whose signature is:

public static void main(String[] args)

The modifiers public and static can be written in either order (public static or
static public), but the convention is to use public static as shown above. You
can name the argument anything you want, but most programmers
choose "args" or "argv".

The main method is similar to the main function in C and C++; it's the
entry point for your application and will subsequently invoke all the
other methods required by your program.

The main method accepts a single argument: an array of elements of

type String.

public static void main(String[] args)

This array is the mechanism through which the runtime system passes
information to your application. Each string in the array is called a
command-line argument. Command-line arguments let users affect the
operation of the application without recompiling it. For example, a
sorting program might allow the user to specify that the data be sorted
in descending order with this command-line argument:
-descending

The "Hello World!" application ignores its command-line arguments, but

you should be aware of the fact that such arguments do exist.

Finally, the line:

System.out.println("Hello World!");
uses the System class from the core library to print the "Hello World!"
message to standard output. Portions of this library (also known as the
"Application Programming Interface", or "API") will be discussed
throughout the remainder of the tutorial.

Common Problems (and Their Solutions)

Compiler Problems

Common Error Messages on Microsoft Windows Systems

'javac' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or
batch file

If you receive this error, Windows cannot find the compiler (javac).

Here's one way to tell Windows where to find javac. Suppose you
installed the JDK in C:\jdk6. At the prompt you would type the following
command and press Enter:

C:\jdk6\bin\javac HelloWorldApp.java
If you choose this option, you'll have to precede your javac and java
commands with C:\jdk6\bin\ each time you compile or run a program. To
avoid this extra typing, consult the section Update the PATH variable in
the JDK 6 installation instructions.

Syntax Errors (All Platforms)

If you mistype part of a program, the compiler may issue a syntax error.
The message usually displays the type of the error, the line number
where the error was detected, the code on that line, and the position of
the error within the code. Here's an error caused by omitting a
semicolon (;) at the end of a statement:
testing.java:14: `;' expected.
System.out.println("Input has " + count + " chars.")
^
1 error
Sometimes the compiler can't guess your intent and prints a confusing
error message or multiple error messages if the error cascades over
several lines. For example, the following code snippet omits a
semicolon (;) from the bold line:
while (System.in.read() != -1)
count++
System.out.println("Input has " + count + " chars.");
When processing this code, the compiler issues two error messages:
testing.java:13: Invalid type expression.
count++
^
testing.java:14: Invalid declaration.
System.out.println("Input has " + count + " chars.");
^
2 errors
The compiler issues two error messages because after it processes
count++, the compiler's state indicates that it's in the middle of an
expression. Without the semicolon, the compiler has no way of knowing
that the statement is complete.

If you see any compiler errors, then your program did not successfully
compile, and the compiler did not create a .class file. Carefully verify the
program, fix any errors that you detect, and try again.

Semantic Errors
In addition to verifying that your program is syntactically correct, the
compiler checks for other basic correctness. For example, the compiler
warns you each time you use a variable that has not been initialized:
testing.java:13: Variable count may not have been initialized.
count++
^
testing.java:14: Variable count may not have been initialized.
System.out.println("Input has " + count + " chars.");
^
2 errors
Again, your program did not successfully compile, and the compiler did
not create a .class file. Fix the error and try again.

Runtime Problems

Error Messages on Microsoft Windows Systems

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: HelloWorldApp

If you receive this error, java cannot find your bytecode file,
HelloWorldApp.class.

One of the places java tries to find your .class file is your current
directory. So if your .class file is in C:\java, you should change your
current directory to that. To change your directory, type the following
command at the prompt and press Enter:

cd c:\java

The prompt should change to C:\java>. If you enter dir at the prompt, you
should see your .java and .class files. Now enter java HelloWorldApp again.

If you still have problems, you might have to change your CLASSPATH
variable. To see if this is necessary, try clobbering the classpath with the
following command.

set CLASSPATH=

Now enter java HelloWorldApp again. If the program works now, you'll have
to change your CLASSPATH variable. To set this variable, consult the
Update the PATH variable section in the JDK 6 installation instructions.
The CLASSPATH variable is set in the same manner.

The main Method Is Not Defined

The Java Virtual Machine requires that the class you execute with it
have a main method at which to begin execution of your application. A
Closer Look at the "Hello World!" Application discusses the main method
in detail. If you are missing this method, you'll see the following error at
runtime:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: main
In the above message, classname is the name of the class that you tried
to run.