| With the significant changes made to the new release of Java Development Kit (JDK), this book will act as tutorial for programmers who need to make use of he new features now. Each new or updated package or feature is given a theoretical introduction, including a discussion of the role of the package or feature within the larger Java platform. Every technique described is accompanied by a sample program that provides a complete implementation and can be used as a starting point for creating new code. For packages that have been overhauled, a discussion of the relevant changes is provided in the context of what the Java programmer already knows about older versions of the package and special attention is given to anything that breaks backward compatibility.
In the summer of 1995, I moved to New York City to work at a web start-up. On my first day of work, I saw Netscape for the first time; by the end of the day, I had written my first applet, a trivial graphics program I called Thingy.
Thingy just drew a bunch of lines from the cursor to the edge of the screen. You moved the cursor, and the vortex moved along with it. Interactive! I announced the creation of Thingy at the company meeting, and, to my surprise, everyone cheered. I had no idea what the big deal was. I had never used the web before that day, and I didn’t know why it was exciting, or why it was boring enough that a program like this could enliven it. Apparently, being able to run a program inside a browser was a big deal. A very big deal. |
