Java GUI Programmers' Primer, A

Java GUI Programmers' Primer, A

This book contains an introduction to the systematic development of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) using the Java environment. It does not attempt to introduce the Java language and it is assumed that the reader has some familiarity with Object Oriented Development (OOD) and its practical expression in Java. Suitable resources to assist with obtaining this knowledge are given in Appendix A. However, a brief explanation of some aspects of Java will be presented where appropriate, particularly where the aspect differs significantly from C .

The Java Development Kit (JDK), also known as the Java environment, consists of a Java compiler producing Java bytecode which can be interpreted by a run time engine, for example Sun's appletviewer, to run Java programs. However the substantive part of the environment consists of the extensive collection of packages, classes and interfaces collectively known as the Java Application Programmer Interface (API). The most important part of the API, so far as this book is concerned, is the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) containing the user interface components from which GUIs are constructed.