"Wicked Cool Java"
contains 101 fun,
interesting, and useful ways to get more out of Java. This isn't intended as a Java tutorial--it's targeted at developers and system architects who have some basic Java knowledge but may not be familiar with the wide range of libraries available. Full of example code and ideas for combining them in useful projects, this book is perfect for hobbyists, and professionals will find tips and open-source projects to enhance their code and make their jobs easier. Topics include converting a non-XML text structure into XML using a parser
This book aims to instil the reader with an understanding of the Object Oriented approach to
programming and aims to develop some practical skills along the way. These practical skills will
be developed by small exercises that the reader will be invited to undertake and the feedback that
will be provided.
The concepts that will be explained and skills developed are in common use among programmers
using many modern object oriented languages and are thus transferrable from one language to another.
However for practical purposes these concepts are explored and demonstrated using the Java
programming language.
Chapter One considers some of the classes of the java.io package. Java defines input and output (I/O) in
terms of classes known as streams. Streams provide system input and output in a way that isolates the
developer from the details about how an operating system provides access to system resources for the
purposes of I/O. Streams are not required for input and output when a graphical user interface (GUI) is
used to capture and display information in an application. Graphical user interface design is examined in
Chapter Three.
Chapter One takes examples from the Java Application Programming Interface (API) and the themed
application in order to emphasise the critical importance of documentation. The examples are used to
show how documentation is organised in the API and how it is inserted into developer’s code.
While there is a study guide (available from Ventus) that focuses largely on objects and their
characteristics, it will be instructive to the learner (of the Java programming language) to understand how
the concept of an object is applied to their construction and use in Java applications. Therefore, Chapter
One (of this guide) introduces the concept of an object from a language-independe nt point of view and
examines the essential concepts associated with object-oriented programming (OOP) by briefly comparing
