Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 24 Hours

By Rogers Cadenhead

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • About the Technical Editor
  • Acknowledgments
  • We Want to Hear from You!
  • Reader Services
  • Introduction
  • Hour 1. Becoming a Programmer
  • Hour 2. Writing Your First Program
  • Hour 3. Vacationing in Java
  • Hour 4. Understanding How Java Programs Work
  • Part II: Learning the Basics of Programming
  • Hour 5. Storing and Changing Information in a Program
  • Hour 6. Using Strings to Communicate
  • Hour 7. Using Conditional Tests to Make Decisions
  • Hour 8. Repeating an Action with Loops
  • Part III: Working with Information in New Ways
  • Hour 9. Storing Information with Arrays
  • Hour 10. Creating Your First Object
  • Hour 11. Describing What Your Object Is Like
  • Hour 12. Making the Most of Existing Objects
  • Part IV: Programming a Graphical User Interface
  • Hour 13. Building a Simple User Interface
  • Hour 14. Laying Out a User Interface
  • Hour 15. Responding to User Input
  • Hour 16. Building a Complex User Interface
  • Part V: Creating Multimedia Programs
  • Hour 17. Creating Interactive Web Programs
  • Hour 18. Handling Errors in a Program
  • Hour 19. Creating a Threaded Program
    • Threads
    • Working with Threads
    • Starting with init()
    • Catching Errors as You Set Up URLs
    • Handling Screen Updates in the paint() Method
    • Starting the Thread
    • Handling Mouse Clicks
    • Workshop: Revolving Links
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Quiz
    • Questions
    • Activities
  • Hour 20. Reading and Writing Files
  • Part VI: Creating Multimedia Programs
  • Hour 21. Using Fonts and Color
  • Hour 22. Playing Sound Files
  • Hour 23. Working with Graphics
  • Hour 24. Creating Animation
  • Part VII: Appendixes
  • Appendix A. Tackling New Features of Java 2 Version 1.4
  • Appendix B. Using the Java 2 Software Development Kit
  • Appendix C. Programming with the Java 2 Software Development Kit
  • Appendix D. Using Sun ONE Studio
  • Appendix E. Where to Go from Here: Java Resources
  • Appendix F. This Book's Web Site

Q&A

1. Why isn't javax.swing.JApplet needed in the class statement of the Revolve applet?

   It isn't needed because of the import statement that makes all the javax.awt.swing classes available to the program. The only purpose of import is to make it easier to refer to classes in a program. If you don't use it, you have to use full class references such as javax.swing.JApplet instead of simply JApplet. You could write all of your Java programs without using import, though it would make the source files more difficult to understand.

2. If the Revolve applet only has one thread, what's the point of using threads at all?

   Multithreading has benefits, even if it's really just one-threading. One of the main benefits is that you can start, stop, and pause a thread from within a program; you don't have the same kind of control without threads. Also, by making an applet a thread, even for a single-thread project, you make it easier to implement additional threads as needed later on.

3. Are there any reasons not to leave a pair of empty brackets after a catch statement, which causes errors to be disregarded?

   It depends on the type of error or exception being caught. In the Revolve applet, you know with both catch statements what the cause of an exception would be. Because of this knowledge, you can handle the error. In the getURL() method, the MalformedURLException would only be caused if the URL sent to the method is invalid.

Share This