Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition

Rodgers Caldenhead is a writer and Web publisher who has written 10 books on Internet-related topics, including Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 24 Hours and Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft FrontPage 2000 in 24 Hours, but not Sams Teach Yourself to Tell Time in 10 Minutes. He maintains this book's official Web site at http://www.java21pro.com/. Laura Lemay is a technical writer and author. After spending six years writing software documentation for various computer companies in Silicon Valley, she decided that writing books would be much more fun. In her spare time, she collects computers, email addresses, interesting hair colors, and non-running motorcycles. She is also the perpetrator of Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML in a Week and Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days.

(NOTE: Each chapter concludes with a Summary, Q&A, Quiz, and Exercises.)

Introduction.
WEEK 1. JAVA'S FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS.

Day 1. 21st Century Java.


Exploring Java 2. Why to Choose Java Diving into Java Programming. Your First Java Program.

Day 2. Object-Oriented Programming.


Thinking in Terms of Objects. Objects and Classes. Attributes and Behavior. Organizing Classes and Class Behavior.

Day 3. The ABCs of Java.


Statements and Expressions. Variables and Data Types. Comments. Literals. Expressions and Operators. String Arithmetic.

Day 4. Working with Objects.


Creating New Objects. Accessing and Setting Class and Instance Variables. Calling Methods. References to Objects. Casting and Converting Objects and Primitive Types. Comparing Object Values and Classes.

Day 5. Lists, Logic, and Loops.


Arrays. Block Statements. if Conditionals. switch Conditionals. for Loops. while and do Loops. Breaking Out of Loops.

Day 6. Creating Classes and Methods.


Defining Classes. Creating Instance and Class Variables. Creating Methods. Creating Java Applications. Java Applications and Command-Line Arguments. Creating Methods with the Same Name, Different Arguments. Constructor Methods. Overriding Methods. Finalizer Methods.

Day 7. Writing Java Applets.


How Applets and Applications Are Different. Applet Security Restrictions. Creating Applets. Including an Applet on a Web Page. More About the Tag. Java Archives. Passing Parameters to Applets. Developing Java 2 Applets.

WEEK 2. SWING AND OTHER VISUAL JAVA PROGRAMMING.

Day 8. Working with Swing.


Creating an Application. Working with Components.

Day 9. Building a Swing Interface.


Swing Features.

Day 10. Arranging Components on a User Interface.


Basic Interface Layout. Mixing Layout Managers. Card Layout. Grid Bag Layout. Cell Padding and Insets.

Day 11. Responding to User Input.


Event Listeners. Working with Methods.

Day 12. Color, Fonts, and Graphics.


Graphics Classes Creating a Drawing Surface. Drawing and Filling. Text and Fonts. Color. Advanced Graphics Operations Using Java2D.

Day 13. Threads and Animation.


Creating Animation in Java. Retrieving and Using Images. Creating Animation Using Images.

Day 14. JavaSound.


Retrieving and Using Sounds. JavaSound.

WEEK 3. JAVA'S ADVANCED FEATURES.

Day 15. Packages, Interfaces, and Other Class Features.


Modifiers. Static Variables and Methods. Final Classes, Methods, and Variables. Abstract Classes and Methods. Packages. Using Packages. Creating Your Own Packages. Interfaces. Creating and Extending Interfaces. Inner Classes.

Day 16. Error Handling and Security.


Exceptions, the Old and Confusing Way. Java Exceptions. Managing Exceptions. Declaring Methods That Might Throw Exceptions. Creating and Throwing Your Own Exceptions. When and When Not to Use Exceptions. Using Digital Signatures to Identify Applets.

Day 17. Handling Data Through Java Streams.


Introduction to Streams. Byte Streams. Filtering a Stream. Character Streams. Files and Filename Filters.

Day 18. Object Serialization and Reflection.


Object Serialization. Inspecting Classes and Methods with Reflection. Remote Method Invocation.

Day 19. Communicating Across the Internet.


Networking in Java.

Day 20. Working with JavaBeans.


Reusable Software Components. Development Tools. Working with JavaBeans.

Day 21. Java Database Connectivity and Data Structures.


Java Database Connectivity. Data Structures. Java Data Structures.

APPENDIX BONUS. JAVA'S ADVANCED FEATURES.

Day 22. The Software Development Kit.


An Overview of the SDK. The java Interpreter. The javac Compiler. The appletviewer Browser. The javadoc Documentation Tool. The jdb Debugger. Using System Properties.

Day 23. Java Programming Environments.


Java IDEs. Evaluating an IDE.

Day 24. Writing Java 1.0 Applets.


Java 1.0 Programming.

Day 25. Accessibility.


Making Programs More Accessible. Using Accessibility Features. An Accessible Application: PageData.

Day 26. Writing Java Servlets.


Using Web Servlets. Developing Servlets.

Day 27. Using JavaServer Pages.


JavaServer Pages.

Day 28. Reading XML Files


Using XML. Processing XML with Java.

APPENDIXES.

Appendix A. Configuring the Software Development Kit.


Using a Command-Line Interface. Configuring the Software Development Kit. Unix Configuration.

Appendix B. Using a Text Editor with the Software Development Kit.


Choosing a Text Editor. Creating a File Association in Windows.

Index.