Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

Overview of this book

Anyone who knows software development knows about the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine is responsible for interpreting Java byte code and translating it into actions. In the beginning, Java was the only programming language used for the JVM. But increasing complexity of the language and the remarkable performance of the JVM created an opening for a new generation of programming languages. If you want to build a strong foundation with the Java Virtual Machine and get started with popular modern programming languages, then this book is for you. The book will begin with a general introduction of the JVM and its features, which are common to the JVM languages, helping you get abreast with its concepts. It will then dive into explaining languages such as Java, Scala, Clojure, Kotlin, and Groovy and will show how to work with each language, their features, use cases, and pros and cons. By writing example projects in those languages and focusing on each language’s strong points, it will help you find the programming language that is most appropriate for your particular needs. By the end of the book, you will have written multiple programs that run on the Java Virtual Machine and know about the differences between the various languages.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Eclipse IDE


As we have seen in the previous section, using a simple text editor to create JVM programs can be a quite cumbersome process. In some languages, including Java, you'll have to make sure that the package name structure matches the directory structure of the source code. As we will soon see, there are more rules that some languages impose on the developer. Java requires that the source code filename should match the corresponding class name. Also, you have to manually specify the ClassPath when running programs. The list goes on.

In the JVM world, most programmers use the sophisticated IDE to develop their projects. Both commercial and open source IDEs that support the JVM concept are available on the market. Java support is extremely strong on all popular IDEs. Java programmers can expect the following features in a modern IDE:

  • First is the autocompletion feature. When a class name is recognized, it offers a list of its members while typing (called IntelliSense in the Microsoft...