JAVA JUMP START: A Beginner's Guide to Internet Programming - Softcover

Enete, Noel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0135658543 ISBN 13: 9780135658543

Publisher: Prentice Hall Ptr, 1997

Synopsis

A step-by-step book/CD-ROM introduction to Java programming, with explanations organized by topic and supported by short, working programs. Coverage includes beginning and advanced topics, then focuses on Web servers. Includes appendices on troubleshooting, the WWW, parsing, Virtual Machine, and Internet resources. The CD-ROM contains applet examples. Asumes knowledge of another programming language. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

About this title

About the Author

Noel Enete draws on fourteen years of experience as a software developer and educator to offer readers this highly accessible introduction to JAVA. In addition to his teaching post at the University of California at Irvine, Enete works as an independent contractor and is currently building a real-time sound server for a compression technology company located in southern California. Enete also has extensive experience in the development of large PC/Mainframe systems for TRW Consumer Information Systems, and developed Object-Oriented Software for ParcPlace-Digitalk, the manufacturers of Smalltalk.

From the Back Cover

This introduction to programming in JAVA is like nothing you've seen before. Because it will help you to learn the way you're meant to learn—step-by-step. The strategy is simple. Each topic begins with a detailed explanation and is supported by short, working JAVA programs. You'll begin with the basics and then move on to a more complete treatment of standard and advanced JAVA topics.

JAVA Jump Start:

• Explores the inner workings of a JAVA Web Server
• Helps readers to understand how to use JAVA to write both the front and back ends of a distributed application
• Presents techniques for using JAVA classes to replace Web/CGI programs
• Includes enough theory and follow-up references to launch readers onto center stage in the JAVA programming community.

From the Inside Flap

This book is centered around the learning process. Any material that would detract from learning is removed. Any concept that would overload the learning process is postponed until a later chapter. The examples are simple and the concepts are central.

This book will help the reader over the “hump” in learning Java. After working through this book, the reader will be ready to use standard reference documentation and follow advanced techniques.

The chapters in Part I offer a mix of topics that help to orient and motivate programmers who are new to Java. At the end of Part I, the reader has been exposed to all of the core techniqus in the Java environment.

Part II presents more systematic treatments of core Java topics.

Part III is an extended treatment of one advanced topichow to use a Web server to implement a Client/Server application. The reader explores the internals of a Web server written in Java - the CaffeineCafe.

This Web server is constructed so that it launches other Java classes in the same way that a Web client launches Java applets. Examples demonstrate how to use this technique to write complete Client/Server applications or to use Java to write CGI like back-end programs.

As the reader watches a Web browser in one window make requests to a Web server in another window, it will be easy to gain a perspective for Web processing that is difficult to acquire in any other way.

Audience
This book is intended for individuals who have exposure to at least one other programming language.

Development Environment

Although a number of development environments enhance the experience of programming Java (Symantec CafŽ, Java Workshop, Visual J++, etc.), this book does not assume any such environment. In order to focus on the task of learning Java, this book avoids the use of productivity aids. These can be added as the need arises.

The CaffeineCafe

The CaffeineCafe is the Web server that is developed in Part III of the book. The reader can use it to start their own Web site or use it to learn how a Web server works. Readers that want to build their own server for a custom application can use this working server as a springboard for developing their own.

This system was written to be complete enough to use as a server, but to be simple enough to read and understand. The reader is encouraged to send fixes or enhancements to noel@enete. As new versions of the program are available, they can be downloaded from enete.

Installing the CD

The files in the CD are stored in three separate directories-one for each platform. The reader should look in the directory that corresponds to their platform (Windows, Mac, or Sun) and load its ReadMe.txt file into a text editor. The steps for copying the JDK and Jump Start archive files to the hard disk and unpacking them are described in the ReadMe.txt file.

CD Web Page

When the CD data is installed, the file index.html is installed into the JumpStrt directory. This is a Web page that gives quick access to all of the examples in the book. By clicking on the links of this page, the reader can go directly to the program source or directly execute the applet examples.

The index page also provides links to the Java API documentation and is the quickest way to find all the methods a particular class implements.

To access the index file, the reader should open the Web browser and choose the option in the File menu for opening a file. In the file selection dialog, choose the file c:\JumpStrt\index.html. Once the page is found, it can be added as a bookmark in the Web browser.

Enete Utilities

I have included several classes that I have found helpful when doing Java development. They are described in the Enete Utilities appendix. These are command level applications that are installed from the CD into the Java CLASSES directory so they can be available from any command line prompt.

Feedback

With the readers help, future editions of this work can be of greater benefit to those who are learning Java. If anyone has suggestions or simply enjoys this work, they can drop me a note. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to reply. But I would love to hear from my readers.

If one is not able to find the answer to a Java question, they should write me with the explanation of the question and the index entries used to search for the answer.


As the software in this book evolves and the operating systems for which it is prepared expand, the newest versions of the code will be available for download from enete.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my four teenagers - Charis, Shane, Shannon, and John for their support of this project. I would also like to thank John Gladfelter, Bruce Boyer, and my parents for encouraging me to write. Deborah Bayles and Alan Evans of NeTouch Communications were instrumental in providing extended support for this project.

Thanks to Leonard Megliola for porting the examples in the book to Solaris and to Stephen Franklin for freeing up Leonard for the task.

I hope the reader will find Java as fun to learn as it was to explain. Noel Enete (eee NET)


January 17, 1997


noel@enete


enete

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall Ptr
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0135658543
• ISBN 13: 9780135658543
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 492