What's
and What's Old? The History of the Tutorial
Thanksgiving (USA), 24 November 99 --
- Added a new lesson to the JavaBeans(tm) trail,
Using the BeanContext API,
that covers The Extensible Runtime Containment and Services Protocol.
- Added some information about JTable in 1.3 in the Swing trail.
Also, added a new 1.3 JTable example.
- Began updating and rewriting the Learning the Java Language trail.
This work includes adding exercises and questions to each section.
- Added the glossary
from the java.sun.com website and began linking
terms to it.
- Did a partial conversion to our new icon scheme for identifying
the target of our links.
-
looks up a glossary term
-
links to a .java
file
-
link to a page within the javadocs hosted at java.sun.com
-
links to a page outside of the tutorial
-
links to a page in a different lesson within the tutorial
Intra-tutorial links (black) update the page in the current browser window,
while extra-tutorial links (colored links) bring up a new browser window.
Vegetarian Day (World), 1 October 99 --
- Removed the survey. Thank you for your responses.
- Added a really big index
that lists every content page in the tutorial in order.
- Added a resources page
that lists Java programming resources outside of the tutorial.
- Added Your First Cup of Java (for UNIX).
- Added feedback form.
Please use this form to contact us instead of sending mail directly.
It will help direct your mail to the right person.
- Modified our tools to provide automatic next and previous links,
automatic page titles, and automatic page headers and footers.
This change should be largely unnoticeable to readers except that
these page elements should contain fewer errors and inconsistencies.
- Created a tool that automatically generated trail-level TOC pages.
This change should be largely unnoticeable to readers except that
these pages should contain fewer errors and inconsistencies.
- Fixed various broken links, typographical, and other errors.
- Put all of the images on the
Swing Components Visual Index.
- Updated API links to point to Java 2 SDK docs.
- Thanks to our two delightful summer interns, Ray and Indra,
we were able to do a lot of clean up including fixing omissions,
making clarifications, adding examples, and so on.
- We did a pass and cleaned up most of the pending issues.
The only remaining pendings are in the BINGO lesson,
which has not been completed,
and in one of the book pages for the Second Edition.
We hope, but do not promise, to clean up the remaining ones
for the next tutorial update.
National Smile Week :), 3 August 99 --
- Added the 2D applets to the
list of applets
page, for a total of 77 applets in the Tutorial.
Also, provided Java Plug-in tags for running the 2D applets.
- Added detailed instructions
for compiling and running a Java program in Windows.
- Posted a survey.
- Created a tutorial announcements mailing list to which tutorial
readers can subscribe. See
Get Announcements about The java Tutorial.
- Added common problems pages to some trails that didn't have them.
- Clarified and fixed various errors reported by readers.
Fiesta de San Fermin (Spain), 7 July 99 --
- Fixed most of the pending issues in the Swing trail.
Fixed a few pending issues in other trails.
- Fixed some problems with one example in the security trail.
- Made some minor modifications to the page format
and did some clean up on our tools.
This has minor repercussions for API links.
- Cleaned up the image directories and removed unused images.
This reduced the size of the tutorial by about 1.5 Meg.
- Added coverage of JSDK 2.1 in the servlets trail.
- Modified our coverage of finalization in the
Java language trail and in effected examples.
- Fixed typos, broken links, a couple of broken applets,
and other reader reported problems.
- Updated the instructions for running the BINGO program.
- Became a mirror for WinHelp version of tutorial.
Memorial Day (USA), 28 May 99 --
- Announced the Swing book.
- Due to overwhelming reader feedback,
we changed our format again.
We removed the left-hand border and modified the headers
and footers to include a link to the search page.
- Fixed typos and other errors in the Learning Java,
Essential Classes, and Custom Networking
trails in response to reader e-mail.
Lei Day (Hawaii) update, 5 May 99 --
We made some changes to our new page format in resonse to reader feedback.
- Because of reader feedback, we added
a navigation area to the bottom of each page.
- Implemented a max width of 460 for images to prevent
large images from creating a page that is too wide.
Lei Day (Hawaii), 1 May 99 --
- Modified our page format. It now includes
search on every content page.
- Created examples indexes for all examples in the Swing trail.
If readers like it, we plan to do this for all trails.
- Reviewed the code for all example programs in the Swing trail.
- Did a final pass in preparation for converting from HTML to
book format. This included everything from fixing typos to
tweaking comments in source files to adding a few paragraphs
of new information.
- Added a second custom layout manager example: GraphPaperLayout.
- Added new examples and content to the 2d trail.
World Culture Day, 12 March 99 --
We marched through the Swing trail preparing for copyedit.
Here's what we did:
- Internally reviewed and edited all .html pages in the Swing trail
in the first 7 lessons. In some cases, this amounted to a major
rewrite.
- Added *a lot* of material to the component how-to pages
that covers aspects of the components that had previously been omitted.
Typically, the additional material covers more advanced component
features.
- Reviewed example code, ran all examples,
and modified as appropriate.
- Researched and resolved many pending issues. (Some still remain.)
- Performed "example audits" and updated the tables of examples.
- Reviewed and updated API tables everywhere.
- Fixed various bugs and clarity issues reported by readers.
- Filled in "glue" pages.
- Added information about common problems in many places.
- Tied sections together better by adding links.
- Made the layout and events sections similar to how-to
pages by adding API and examples tables.
Joe's 40th Birthday, 21 Jan 99
- Updated the drawing lesson to Swing.
- Made various improvements to the Swing trail.
- Some front page cleanup.
Winter Solstice, 21 Dec 98
- Added Search Capability!
- Added preliminary draft of Converting to Swing lesson.
- Added links to resources and examples for Drag 'n Drop.
- Some image clean up, which shrunk the tutorial by about .75 Megs.
- Made various improvements to the Swing trail,
- Fixed various broken link and typos.
Enlightenment of the Buddha (Japan), 8 Dec 98
- Minor typo and broken link fixes.
- Getting first two lessons in Swing trail ready for copyedit.
- Removed all .class files from tutorial except those necessary
for running applets. This shrank the tutorial by 1.5 Megs.
Day of the Artisans (Mexico), 4 Dec 98
- Note: CD-ROM build.
This is the version of the tutorial
that appears on the CD-ROM for
The Java Tutorial Continued.
- Integrated all copyedits and other changes from the
continued book into 5 trails:
overview, internationalization,
sound, 2D, and RMI.
- Made lots of little improvements to the Swing trail,
especially in swingOverview and swingStart.
Reorganized material about text.
- Updated programs to use Swing 1.1
(from Swing 1.0.3 and Swing 1.1 Beta 3)
and JDK 1.2.
Aron's Birthday, 6 Nov 98
- Substantially reorganized the
Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing trail.
The Swing-based User Interface trail replaces
the old AWT-based User Interface trail,
which is available only by download.
We still have some work to do to complete the transition.
Please bear with us during construction!
- Miscellaneous fixes to typos, broken links, and program bugs.
Universal Children's Day, 5 Oct 98
- Converted the examples and text in
Laying Out Components within a Container
to use Swing.
- Several updates to the Using Swing Components lesson.
- Converted many applets to use Java Plug-in.
- Updated to JDK 1.1.7 and Swing 1.1 Beta 3.
- Converted old UI trail to a downloadable archive.
- Removed reference objects trail.
- Miscellaneous fixes to typos, broken links, and program bugs.
Labor Day Release, 7 Sept 98
- Added Overview of the JDK.
- Added Java Sound trail.
- Added Working with Java 2D Graphics trail.
- Added JDBC Database Access trail.
- Added Using Java RMI trail.
- Reviewed and edited Programming with Java IDL trail.
- Added new material and examples to the
Using Swing Components
lesson.
Laine's Birthday Release, An Update, 14 Aug 98
- Added Programming with Java IDL trail.
- Added Security in JDK 1.2 trail.
- Reviewed and edited various trails and lesson.
- Added new material and examples to the
Using Swing Components
lesson.
- Fixed miscellaneous typos and broken links.
Made minor improvements to text and examples all over the place.
Laine's Birthday Release, 3 Aug 98
- Added Collections trail.
- Added Servlets trail.
- Added The Java Extensions Mechanism trail.
- Added Reference Objects trail.
- Added new material and examples to the
Using Swing Components
lesson.
Completed technical reviews for many pages and integrated
engineering feedback.
- Reviewed and edited
javabeans and
jar trails.
- Fixed miscellaneous typos and broken links.
Made minor improvements to text and examples all over the place.
The Summer Solstice Release, 26 June 98
- Added a lot of new material and examples to the
Using Swing Components
lesson.
- Updated information about
hashCode
and
equals
.
- Added a bios page that contains
information about our contributing authors.
- Reviewed and edited
internationalization,
reflection, and
native trails.
- Fixed miscellaneous typos and broken links.
Improved some text and some examples.
Nettle Day (UK), 29 May 98
- Added JAR trail.
- Added 4 new topics to the internationalization trail:
comparing strings,
text boundaries,
conversions, and a
checklist for
internationalizing existing programs.
- Added demo programs to the date and number formatting lessons.
- Reorganized JavaBeans trail.
- Added a lot of new material and examples to the
Using Swing Components
lesson.
- Reviewed native methods
trail and made associated changes and fixes.
- Fixed miscellaneous typos and broken links.
Improved some text and some examples.
Arbor Day, 24 April 98
- WooHoo! New front page!
New Trail map!
- New look for trail-level TOC.html files.
Also, removed lesson-level TOC.html files. Instead
we now provide a link to the appropriate place within
the trail-level TOC.html files.
- Continued to add new pages to the
Using Swing Components
lesson.
- Added a new lesson to the internationalizaton trail
covering formatting.
- Added trail on reflection.
- Added some information to the
native methods trail for
Mac programmers.
- Fixed typos, broken links,
and various other minor problems with content
- Removed the old internationalization trail.
- Removed old native methods trail...provide a
downloadable archive instead.
- Updated errata page
for second edition of the book.
The Vernal Equinox, 20 March 98
-
Changed the background color to white.
-
Finished integrating figures from the new, second, edition of the book.
Figures and images are now kept together at the top-level instead of
sprinkled throughout the lesson directories.
-
Added book.html
and related pages for the second editon of the book.
Changed the page design of the book.html
and related pages for the first edition to match the second edition.
-
Did a bunch of work behind the scenes on our tools and processes.
This is the first update of the tutorial from our new workspace
with our new makefiles and build process.
-
Because of our lovely new tools, we can now easily
provide a downloadable archive of all of the examples
in the book.
See Download the Tutorial
for the
ftp
links.
-
Fixed various typos and other minor problems with content.
-
Updated the
Swing
material relating to the JDK 1.2.
Saturnalia, 22 December 97
The long awaited update!--
this is a major update of the tutorial.
Almost every file has been touched in some way.
This release of the online tutorial corresponds with the
release of the 2nd edition of The Java Tutorial book
and is the version of the online tutorial that appears on
the CD-ROM that accompanies that book.
The changes are in progress, but to a large extent
we have integrated 1.1 information into
the existing trails, lessons, and examples. This is
in sharp contrast to the 1.1 notes that were littered
throughout the previous version of the tutorial and
were, admittedly, somewhat confusing.
Also, we are in the process of integrating copyedit and
other changes made to the book version, into the online version.
This has been completed thoroughly in some areas of the online
tutorial, and spottily in other areas. We will continue
with this process throughout the coming months.
New lessons in this tutorial that first appeared in print
in the 2nd edition of The Java Tutorial book:
-
The Java Phenomenon
-
Migrating to 1.1
-
A Preview of Things to Come
New trails for this version of the tutorial
that haven't yet made it to print:
-
Added a Putting It All Together trail
that provides a large, real-world, client/server example and analyzes it.
-
Got a totally new JavaBeans Tutorial
by Andy Quinn!
8 July 97
- One of the goals of the tutorial is to document the latest and greatest
from JavaSoft as it is released.
To this end, we've added a lesson about
Using Swing Components.
The Swing release is an early release of part of the JFC.
This information is only available from the Java Tutorial.
- Added a trail, Java Security 1.1,
covering the new 1.1 security APIs.
- Updated the The JavaBeans(tm) Tutorial by Greg Voss.
- Promoted Writing Global Programs to
a trail. This trail is still in progress, but it contains new material
including several excellent demos from
Taligent.
- Added information about the 1.1 release in our
To 1.1 -- And Beyond! trail.
- Made the usual fixes to broken links, typos, and other errata.
14 May 97
We improved and added more 1.1 information in existing sections.
We added more examples of and information about
the various types of event listeners to
Handling Events.
We also fixed the AroundTheWorld applet used in
Writing Global Programs.
28 April 97
We added a new trail,
To 1.1 -- And Beyond!,
which is the headquarters for features added to the JDK after 1.0.
Also, the Learning the Java Language
and Essential Java Classes trails
now have notes that point out material that is affected by 1.1.
And finally, we reorganized our top-level files to make them more
accessible.
3 March 97
Added a brand new trail introducing JavaBeans!
This trail, JavaBeans Tutorial, written by Greg Voss,
shows you the ins and outs of developing programs
using the JavaBeans technology.
19 February 97
-
Our new "guest author" program debuts in this release of the tutorial
with a completely new trail about
writing native methods by Beth Stearns. Check it out:
Using the Java Native Interface (JNI).
-
Merged copyediting changes from the book into the on-line version in
these two trails:
Getting Started and
Writing Applets.
-
Updated
Writing Global Programs
to work with the FCS JDK 1.1 release.
-
The usual miscellaneous fixes.
24 December 96
Miscellaneous fixes.
Also, added a new lesson describing new features of the JDK for
Writing Global Programs.
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 and Classes in Java.
- 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.
- 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.
(The first three have since been reorganized into two trails:
Taking Advantage of the Applet API
and
Practical Considerations when Writing Applets.
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.
- 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
- Added a new lesson,
Input and Output Streams
to the
Essential Java Classes 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
Essential Java Classes
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,
Laying Out Components Within a Container, 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
Laying Out 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, we've added two new lessons:
Threads of Control
and
Object-Oriented Programming Concepts.
18 May 95
Released the First DRAFT