Book Image

Transitioning to Java

By : Ken Fogel
Book Image

Transitioning to Java

By: Ken Fogel

Overview of this book

This comprehensive guide will help non-Java developers already using different languages transition from their current language to all things Java. The chapters are designed in a way that re-enforces a developer’s existing knowledge of object-oriented methodologies as they apply to Java. This book has been divided into four sections, with each section touching upon different aspects that’ll enable your effective transition. The first section helps you get to grips with the Java development environment and the Maven build tool for modern Java applications. In the second section, you’ll learn about Java language fundamentals, along with exploring object-oriented programming (OOP) methodologies and functional programming and discovering how to implement software design patterns in Java. The third section shows you how to code in Java on different platforms and helps you get familiar with the challenges faced on these platforms. In the fourth section, you’ll find out how you can manage and package your Java code. By the end of this Java programming book, you’ll have learned the core concepts of Java that’ll help you successfully transition from a different language to Java.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
1
Part 1:The Java Development Environment
5
Part 2:Language Fundamentals
15
Part 3:GUI and Web Coding in Java
19
Part 4:Packaging Java Code

Using Threads in Java

One of the first software development contracts I had was to develop software for an invisible fence security system at thoroughbred horse farms in Kentucky, USA. The computer we used was an Apple II plus. There was no such thing as threads in the 6502 CPU or the OS, ProDOS. What we did was write all the code in assembly language in small units that were measured by the number of cycles each unit took. Once we finished our allotted cycles, we would save our state in a defined region of memory and turn over control to the next unit. It worked quite well, and if a horse wandered off, alarms would be sounded. The monitoring of the fence, just a buried cable that could detect a horse walking over it, continued even while the alarm sounded. This was my introduction to threaded programming. This was in 1982.

I did not work with threads again until 1999 when I moved from C++ to Java. One of the features that made Java stand out and why I abandoned C++ was Java’...