Java Reference
Java 1.5.0 Documentation
Sun's documentation for Java. The API documentation is a link on there. Or you can also just follow the link here for the API documentation. Generally, your web browser will load the documentation faster if you view the documentation without frames.
Note about using jar files: I don't know where else to put this,
but
the manifest file requires a newline at the end. From looking at their
grammar, this is obvious, but when you're trying to figure out why jar
isn't working, it's not as obvious. This is one reason why people
have trouble getting their Main-Class attribute working.
Editors for Java
- Windows
-
- EditPlus
- EditPlus is my editor of choice on Windows. It's addictive not only for syntax highlighting and basic autocompletion, but you can assign commands to certain keyboard shortcuts and a special menu. This means you can create a keyboard shortcut to compile the current file and one to run the current file. (If you have the Java SDK installed on your computer.) However, unlike nedit, it is shareware. In the case of EditPlus, that means you should purchase a license if you use the program for more than 30 days although the program will still run fine after 30 days.
- UltraEdit
- UltraEdit is another popular programmer's text editor, although I don't have any experience with it.
- nedit
- Just as you can use nedit in UNIX, it can be used on Windows. However, you will need to install cygwin or some other X Window server. nedit supports a client/server mode to facilitate remote file editing.
- Standard UNIX Editors
- You can run emacs, vi, pico, etc. over a terminal session (preferrably ssh). You can run graphical applications remotely as well by using Exceed or VNC. If you prefer to edit files on a Windows computer but like UNIX editors, take a look at cygwin. It's a UNIX operating environment for Windows. So you get the UNIX text editors and all sorts of other UNIX commands.
- UNIX
-
- nedit
- I like to use nedit in UNIX environments primarily for syntax highlighting and because I like using the mouse. It is available on strauss and can easily be installed on an EE/CIS account. A common thing I've heard is that it "feels like Windows."
- Standard UNIX Editors
- Of course you can use emacs, xemacs, vi, pico, etc. Syntax highlighting can be enabled in xemacs, but it's an X Windows application so you won't be able to use it over SSH easily.
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
IDEs tend to use a lot of CPU time and a lot of memory. Thus, they aren't appropriate for use on most Suns, because those share resources amongst multiple users.
- Borland JBuilder
- The JBuilder Foundation is the free version for personal use. I've heard it's very easy to use.
- Eclipse
- Eclipse is a powerful IDE based on plug-ins. So there's a Java plug-in, C++ plug-in, AspectJ plug-in and many more.
- Sun ONE
- The Sun website is a little confusing, as they keep changing everything. You should be able to find Sun's IDE from the above link, but it's supplied with the Core Java books anyway.
- BlueJ
- I played around with this one a bit and I think it's very nice, especially for coursework. It's not really that complicated either. This IDE is probably small and simple enough to run on a Sun. It's only a couple of megabytes and is written in Java.
- Other IDEs for Java
- Even a simple Google search will return many more IDEs than what I've listed. One such IDE that I am unfamiliar with is NetBeans.