Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

By : van der Leun
Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

By: van der Leun

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 (15 chapters)

Creating a JavaFX desktop GUI application

We will be building a simple desktop application in Kotlin, that makes use of the JavaFX GUI desktop toolkit. JavaFX is the newest GUI toolkit that is supplied with most popular versions of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). JavaFX is supplied with Java for Windows, macOS, and desktop-based Linux versions. JavaFX was initially supplied with the Java SE Embedded 8 version that is preinstalled on the Raspberry Pi's Raspbian operating system, but unfortunately Oracle removed it from later updates. It is also not available for Solaris users.

Oracle made the source code of JavaFX for Java SE Embedded available via an open source license, so advanced users can still compile and run JavaFX-based applications on the Raspberry Pi. This use case is out of scope of this chapter, though.

It's strongly recommended to have the JavaFX documentation...