Beginning Java Programming For Dummies

408 Pages·2005·5.87 MB·English

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Beginning
Programming
with Java
™
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
2
ND EDITION
by Barry Burd
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Beginning Programming with Java™For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright ©2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2005923219
ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-8874-7
ISBN-10: 0-7645-8874-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Author
Dr. Barry Burdhas an M.S. in Computer Science from Rutgers University, and
a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois. As a teaching assistant
in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, he was elected five times to the university-wide
List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students.
Since 1980, Dr. Burd has been a professor in the Department of Mathematics
and Computer Science at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. When he’s
not lecturing at Drew University, Dr. Burd leads training courses for profes-
sional programmers in business and industry. He has lectured at conferences
in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. He is the author of several
articles and books, including Java 2 For Dummiesand Eclipse For Dummies,
both published by Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Dr. Burd lives in Madison, New Jersey, with his wife and two children. For
hobbies he enjoys anything that wastes his and everyone else’s time.
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Dedication
For Harriet, Sam and Jennie, Sam and Ruth, Abram and Katie, Benjamin and
Jennie
Author’s Acknowledgments
Author’s To-Do List, February 13, 2005:
Item:Send chocolate to Christine Berman — the book’s project editor and
copy editor. As anyone who reads Chapter 4 learns, chocolate is one of the
most precious commodities on earth. So when I give chocolate, I give it
thoughtfully and intentionally.
The only thing that rivals chocolate’s goodness is the benefit of a good
night’s sleep. But with a 19-month-old child in the house, Christine probably
isn’t getting enough sleep. Even so, she has the time and patience to work on
my manuscript. Yes, Christine deserves special thanks.
Item:Have a plaque erected in honor of Steven Hayes, your acquisitions
editor at Wiley. While you dragged your heels, Steve kept on insisting that
you write this book. (Sure, you wanted a long vacation instead of a big book
project, but who cares? He was right; you were wrong.)
Item:Send a thank-you note to tech editor Jim Kelly who helped polish your
original work and, miraculously, didn’t make a lot of extra work for you.
Item:Recommend your agent Laura Lewin to other computer book authors.
Ifit weren’t for Laura, you’d still be roaming the book exhibits and looking
needy at the technology conferences.
Item:Visit Frank Thornton, Bonnie Averbach, and Herbert Putz at Temple
University. Thank them for steering you to a career as a professor. In any
other career, you’d have no time left to write. (And by the way, while you’re
in Philly, don’t forget to stop for a cheesesteak.)
Item:Send e-mail to Gaisi Takeuti at the University of Illinois, and to William
Wisdom and Hughes LeBlanc at Temple University. Thank them for teaching
you about Symbolic Logic. It’s made your life as a computer scientist and
mathematician much richer.
Item:Spend more time with your family. (Remind them that you’re the guy
who wandered around the house before this book project got started.) Renew
your pledge to clean up after yourself. Don’t be so highstrung, and finish each
sentence that you start. Remember that you can never fully return the love
they’ve given you, but you should always keep trying.
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form
located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services
Media Development
Project Coordinator:Maridee Ennis
Project Editor:Christine Berman
Layout and Graphics:Andrea Dahl,
Acquisitions Editor: Steve Hayes Joyce Haughey, Lynsey Osborn,
Melanee Prendergast, Heather Ryan
Copy Editor:Christine Berman
Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer,
Technical Editor:Jim Kelly
Carl William Pierce, Dwight Ramsey,
Editorial Manager:Carol Sheehan TECHBOOKS Production Services
Media Development Manager:Laura VanWinkle Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services
Media Development Supervisor:
Richard Graves
Editorial Assistant:Amanda Foxworth
Cartoons:Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley,Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings,Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek,Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder,Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele,Vice President and Publisher
Joyce Pepple,Acquisitions Director
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey,Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey,Director of Composition Services
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction.................................................................1
Part I: Revving Up........................................................7
Chapter 1: Getting Started.................................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Setting Up Your Computer...........................................................................23
Chapter 3: Running Programs.........................................................................................33
Part II: Writing Your Own Java Programs.....................45
Chapter 4: Exploring the Parts of a Program................................................................47
Chapter 5: Composing a Program..................................................................................65
Chapter 6: Using the Building Blocks: Variables, Values, and Types.........................89
Chapter 7: Numbers and Types....................................................................................103
Chapter 8: Numbers? Who Needs Numbers?..............................................................121
Part III: Controlling the Flow.....................................139
Chapter 9: Forks in the Road........................................................................................141
Chapter 10: Which Way Did He Go?.............................................................................157
Chapter 11: How to Flick a Virtual Switch...................................................................181
Chapter 12: Around and Around It Goes.....................................................................195
Chapter 13: Piles of Files: Dealing with Information Overload.................................215
Chapter 14: Creating Loops within Loops...................................................................233
Chapter 15: The Old Runaround...................................................................................245
Part IV: Using Program Units....................................269
Chapter 16: Using Loops and Arrays...........................................................................271
Chapter 17: Programming with Objects and Classes.................................................289
Chapter 18: Using Methods and Variables from a Java Class...................................303
Chapter 19: Creating New Java Methods.....................................................................325
Chapter 20: Oooey GUI Was a Worm............................................................................347
Part V: The Part of Tens ............................................359
Chapter 21: Ten Sets of Web Links...............................................................................361
Chapter 22: Ten Useful Classes in the Java API..........................................................367
Index.......................................................................371
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