The Java Developer's Toolkit: Techniques and Technologies for Web Programmers

Citation

Doiel, R. (1998), "The Java Developer's Toolkit: Techniques and Technologies for Web Programmers", Internet Research, Vol. 8 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/intr.1998.17208aaf.010

The Java Developer's Toolkit: Techniques and Technologies for Web Programmers

The Java Developer's Toolkit: Techniques and Technologies for Web Programmers

Joshua Marketos (1997), John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, NY, p. 400 cm. ISBN 0-471-16519-0, $29.95 US, $41.95 Canada, Available: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Professional, Reference and Trade Group, 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10158-0012; HYPERLINK http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/

Java is one of several programming languages and tools available for Internet application and applet development. It is object-oriented, high level, well defined and becoming cross platform. It can be embedded in browsers, application environments, operating systems as well as be used as a development platform for for embedded processors. The Java Developer's Kit provides a good overview of its strengths, weaknesses and possibilities; focussing on Java's Web based deployment.

The book covers Java version 1.0.2 which is the currently deployed version of Java in most web browsers. This version will soon be superseded by version 1.1.1 which Sun/Javasoft recently released. As such some of the example code dealing with file access and the abstract window toolkit is dated but is still useful. The book does not include a CD-ROM (which is common with many Java texts) but does include a link to the publisher's Web site where you can download most of the example code. While the site is not extensive it is a starting point.

The author does not assume a particular programming background. It is helpful to have a good understanding of programming basics and it does not hurt to have previous exposure to object-oriented techniques (only 25 pages are devoted to these topics). The style of the book is informal and to the point with only 366 pages of text not including the glossary and index. The author's general structure is to provide basic examples which illustrate particular concepts of Java design followed by tables outlining member methods and summarising issues regarding the standard Java classes.

The book is refreshing with only a minimum of Java evangelisation, about ten pages. The source code examples are novel compared to other Java programming texts and are of practical use. One of the early examples is a design for a class library which handles very large numbers (such as used in encryption techniques). This takes you through basic class layout and design and provides the reader with a useful class library which can be used in later applications or applets. From here you are taken through simple applet designs with basic graphic method calls and simple animation. The author then brings the reader to a more complete overview of Java's AWT (Abstract Windowing Toolkit, Java's GUI toolkit). This approach may seem backwards compared to most Java texts but the technique works well here because it provides known examples on which to base more detailed explanations.

From here the reader is taken through Java's thread handling as well as an overview of what is and is not expensive in terms of Java code performance. You are given a detailed look at deployment issues of multi-threaded applications to be able to build a client to do distributed computations. Next the reader is given an overview of Java's basic IO classes and then on to networking code. In the chapter on networking code you are given a framework for doing key exchange (using the Diffie-Hellman algorithm) which is a nice example if you need to implement some basic encryption for applet and server communication. This technique could be applied to either the example Normal Mailer Applet or Chatlette (online Chat) Applet. RMI (remote method invocation) and UDP (transport protocol) are also covered. Native methods, the Java Class file format (and Java assembly language) are brought together in a single chapter together with enough detail to invite exploring Java at the Virtual Machine level. The book is wrapped up with a shopping cart applet (useful in electronic commerce) touching on Java database connectivity with JDBC and then a brief summary of what is on the horizon for Java and the Internet.

The Java Developer's Kit is a software kit in book form. It provides you with a basic overview with some useful classes which can serve as a basis for your own personal class library. Because of its brevity (which is a plus) it is not a source book or reference book, or a tell all book about Java. It is an idea book and is a useful addition to the ever growing shelf of Java Programming literature. It focuses on the practical and the possible. Hopefully it will be updated to cover the recently released Java 1.1.1 compiler.

Robert Doiel Programmer Analyst, Center for Scholarly Technology, Leavey Library University of Southern California, LA