Head First Java

by Sierra, Kathy

ISBN13: 9780596009205

ISBN10: 0596009208

Format: Paperback

Pub. Date: 2005-02-01

Publisher(s): Ingram Publisher Services, Inc.

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Summary

The first edition of this daring book introduced a highly interactive, multi-sensory method for learning Java that enables new programmers and non-programmers alike to pick up the fundamentals of the Java language, so they can begin to design and write Java programs quickly. The approach has been so successful that we've released several other, more specialized Head First titles into the Java market. Head First Java teaches Java basics by engaging readers on many different levels; it stimulates their abilities in pattern matching and deduction, activates auditory pathways, as well as visual pathways and deeper thought. The book even provides alternative ways to experience the book-users can read a chapter start-to-finish, or simply skim the visual story of the chapter, and still learn! Because Java 5.0, the latest version of the Java language and development platform, is a major update with many changes, the learning method in this book's new edition takes on even greater significance.

Author Biography

Kathy Sierra has been interested in learning theory since her days as a game developer (Virgin, MGM, Amblin'). More recently, she's been a master trainer for Sun Microsystems, teaching Sun's Java instructors how to teach the latest technologies to customers, and a lead developer of several Sun certification exams. Along with her partner Bert Bates, Kathy created the Head First series. She's also the original founder of the Software Development/Jolt Productivity Award-winning javaranch.com, the largest (and friendliest) all-volunteer Java community.

Bert Bates is a 20-year software developer, a Java instructor, and a co-developer of Sun's upcoming EJB exam (Sun Certified Business Component Developer). His background features a long stint in artificial intelligence, with clients like the Weather Channel, A&E Network, Rockwell, and Timken.

Intro Your brain on Java

Who is this book for?

xxii

What your brain is thinking

xxiii

Metacognition

xxv

Bend your brain into submission

xxvii

What you need for this book

xxviii

Technical editors

xxx

Acknowledgements

xxxi

Breaking the Surface

Java takes you to new places

The way Java works

(5)

Code structure in Java

(1)

Anatomy of a class

(1)

The main() method

(2)

Looping

(2)

Conditional branching (if tests)

(1)

Coding the ``99 bottles of beer'' app

(2)

Phrase-o-matic

(2)

Fireside chat: compiler vs. JVM

(2)

Exercises and puzzles

(8)

A Trip to Objectville

I was told there would be objects

Chair Wars (Brad the OO guy vs. Larry the procedural guy)

(3)

Inheritance (an introduction)

(1)

Overriding methods (an introduction)

(2)

What's in a class? (methods, instance variables)

(2)

Making your first object

(2)

Using main()

(1)

Guessing Game code

(3)

Exercises and puzzles

(8)

Know Your Variables

Variables come in two flavors: primitive and reference

Declaring a variable (Java cares about type)

(1)

Primitive types (``I'd like a double with extra foam, please'')

(2)

Java keywords

(1)

Reference variables (remote control to an object)

(1)

Object declaration and assignment

(2)

Objects on the garbage-collectible heap

(2)

Arrays (a first look)

(4)

Exercises and puzzles

(10)

How Objects Behave

State affects behavior, behavior affects state

Methods use object state (bark different)

(1)

Method arguments and return types

(3)

Pass-by-value (the variable is always copied)

(2)

Getters and Setters

(1)

Encapsulation (do it or risk humiliation)

(3)

Using references in an array

(5)

Exercises and puzzles

(8)

Extra-Strength Methods

Let's put some muscle in our methods

Building the Sink a Dot Com game

(2)

Starting with the Simple Dot Com game (a simpler version)

(2)

Writing prepcode (pseudocode for the game)

100

(2)

Test code for Simple Dot Com

102

(1)

Coding the Simple Dot Com game

103

(3)

Final code for Simple Dot Com

106

(5)

Generating random numbers with Math.random()

111

(1)

Ready-bake code for getting user input from the command-line

112

(2)

Looping with for loops

114

(3)

Casting primitives from a large size to a smaller size

117

(1)

Converting a String to an int with Integer.parseInt()

117

(1)

Exercises and puzzles

118

(8)

Using the Java Library

Java ships with hundreds of pre-built classes

Analying the bug in the Simple Dot Com Game

126

(6)

ArrayList (taking advantage of the Java API)

132

(6)

Fixing the DotCom class code

138

(2)

Building the real game (Sink a Dot Com)

140

(4)

Prepcode for the real game

144

(2)

Code for the real game

146

(5)

boolean expressions

151

(3)

Using the library (Java API)

154

(1)

Using packages (import statements, fully-qualified names)

155

(3)

Using the HTML API docs and reference books

158

(3)

Exercises and puzzles

161

(7)

Better Living in Objectville

Plan your programs with the future in mind

Understanding inheritance (superclass and subclass relationships)

168

(2)

Designing an inheritance tree (the Animal simulation)

170

(1)

Avoiding duplicate code (using inheritance)

171

(1)

Overriding methods

172

(5)

IS-A and HAS-A (bathtub girl)

177

(3)

What do you inherit from your superclass?

180

(2)

What does inheritance really buy you?

182

(1)

Polymorphism (using a supertype reference to a subclass object)

183

(7)

Rules for overriding (don't touch those arguments and return types!)

190

(1)

Method overloading (nothing more than method name re-use)

191

(1)

Exercises and puzzles

192

(8)

Serious Polymorphism

Inheritance is just the beginning

Some classes just should not be instantiated

200

(1)

Abstract classes (can't be instantiated)

201

(2)

Abstract methods (must be implemented)

203

(3)

Polymorphism in action

206

(2)

Class Object (the ultimate superclass of everything)

208

(3)

Taking objects out of an ArrayList (they come out as type Object)

211

(2)

Compiler checks the reference type (before letting you call a method)

213

(1)

Get in touch with your inner object

214

(1)

Polymorphic references

215

(1)

Casting an object reference (moving lower on the inheritance tree)

216

(7)

Deadly Diamond of Death (multiple inheritance problem)

223

(1)

Using interfaces (the best solution!)

224

(6)

Exercises and puzzles

230

(6)

Life and Death of an Object

Objects are born and objects die

The stack and the heap, where objects and variables live

236

(1)

Methods on the stack

237

(1)

Where local variables live

238

(1)

Where instance variables live

239

(1)

The miracle of object creation

240

(1)

Constructors (the code that runs when you say new)

241

(2)

Initializing the state of a new Duck

243

(4)

Overloaded constructors

247

(3)

Superclass constructors (constructor chaining)

250

(6)

Invoking overloaded constructors using this()

256

(2)

Life of an object

258

(2)

Garbage Collection (and making objects eligible)

260

(6)

Exercises and puzzles

266

(8)

Numbers Matter

Do the Math

Math class (do you really need an instance of it?)

274

(1)

static methods

275

(2)

static variables

277

(5)

Constants (static final variables)

282

(4)

Math methods (random(), round(), abs(), etc.)

286

(1)

Wrapper classes (Integer, Boolean, Character, etc.)

287

(2)

Autoboxing

289

(5)

Number formatting

294

(7)

Date formatting and manipulation

301

(6)

Static imports

307

(3)

Exercises and puzzles

310

(6)

Risky Behavior

Stuff happens

Making a music machine (the BeatBox)

316

(3)

What if you need to call risky code?

319

(1)

Exceptions say ``something bad may have happened...''

320

(1)

The compiler guarantees (it checks) that you're aware of the risks

321

(1)

Catching exceptions using a try/catch (skateboarder)

322

(4)

Flow control in try/catch blocks

326

(1)

The finally block (no matter what happens, turn off the oven!)

327

(2)

Catching multiple exceptions (the order matters)

329

(6)

Declaring an exception (just duck it)

335

(2)

Handle or declare law

337

(2)

Code Kitchen (making sounds)

339

(9)

Exercises and puzzles

348

(7)

A Very Graphic Story

Face it, you need to make GUIs

Your first GUI

355

(2)

Getting a user event

357

(1)

Implement a listener interface

358

(2)

Getting a button's ActionEvent

360

(3)

Putting graphics on a GUI

363

(2)

Fun with paintComponent()

365

(1)

The Graphics2D object

366

(4)

Putting more than one button on a screen

370

(6)

Inner classes to the rescue (make your listener an inner class)

376

(6)

Animation (move it, paint it, move it, paint it, move it, paint it...)

382

(4)

Code Kitchen (painting graphics with the beat of the music)

386

(8)

Exercises and puzzles

394

(6)

Work on your Swing

Swing is easy

Swing Components

400

(1)

Layout Managers (they control size and placement)

401

(2)

Three Layout Managers (border, flow, box)

403

(1)

BorderLayout (cares about five regions)

404

(4)

FlowLayout (cares about the order and preferred size)

408

(3)

BoxLayout (like flow, but can stack components vertically)

411

(2)

JTextField (for single-line user input)

413

(1)

JTextArea (for multi-line, scrolling text)

414

(2)

JCheckBox (is it selected?)

416

(1)

JList (a scrollable, selectable list)

417

(1)

Code Kitchen (The Big One-building the BeatBox chat client)

418

(6)

Exercises and puzzles

424

(7)

Saving Objects

Objects can be flattened and inflated

Saving object state

431

(1)

Writing a serialized object to a file

432

(1)

Java input and output streams (connections and chains)

433

(1)

Object serialization

434

(3)

Implementing the Serializable interface

437

(2)

Using transient variables

439

(2)

Deserializing an object

441

(6)

Writing to a text file

447

(5)

java.io.File

452

(2)

Reading from a text file

454

(4)

Splitting a String into tokens with split()

458

(4)

CodeKitchen

462

(4)

Exercises and puzzles

466

(7)

Make a Connection

Connect with the outside world

Chat program overview

473

(1)

Connecting, sending, and receiving

474

(1)

Network sockets

475

(1)

TCP ports

476

(2)

Reading data from a socket (using BufferedReader)

478

(1)

Writing data to a socket (using PrintWriter)

479

(1)

Writing the Daily Advice Client program

480

(3)

Writing a simple server

483

(1)

Daily Advice Server code

484

(2)

Writing a chat client

486

(4)

Multiple call stacks

490

(2)

Launching a new thread (make it, start it)

492

(2)

The Runnable interface (the thread's job)

494

(1)

Three states of a new Thread object (new, runnable, running)

495

(1)

The runnable-running loop

496

(1)

Thread scheduler (it's his decision, not yours)

497

(4)

Putting a thread to sleep

501

(2)

Making and starting two threads

503

(2)

Concurrency issues: can this couple be saved?

505

(1)

The Ryan and Monica concurrency problem, in code

506

(4)

Locking to make things atomic

510

(1)

Every object has a lock

511

(1)

The dreaded ``Lost Update'' problem

512

(2)

Synchronized methods (using a lock)

514

(2)

Deadlock!

516

(2)

Multithreaded ChatClient code

518

(2)

Ready-bake SimpleChatServer

520

(4)

Exercises and puzzles

524

(9)

Data Structures

Sorting is a snap in Java

Collections

533

(1)

Sorting an ArrayList with Collections.sort()

534

(6)

Generics and type-safety

540

(7)

Sorting things that implement the Comparable interface

547

(5)

Sorting things with a custom Comparator

552

(5)

The collection API---lists, sets, and maps

557

(2)

Avoiding duplicates with HashSet

559

(1)

Overriding hashCode() and equals()

560

(7)

HashMap

567

(7)

Using wildcards for polymorphism

574

(2)

Exercises and puzzles

576

(6)

Release Your Code

It's time to let go

Deployment options

582

(2)

Keep your source code and class files separate

584

(1)

Making an executable JAR (Java ARchives)

585

(1)

Running an executable JAR

586

(1)

Put your classes in a package!

587

(2)

Packages must have a matching directory structure

589

(1)

Compiling and running with packages

590

(1)

Compiling with -d

591

(1)

Making an executable JAR (with packages)

592

(5)

Java Web Start (JWS) for deployment from the web

597

(3)

How to make and deploy a JWS application

600

(1)

Exercises and puzzles

601

(13)

Distributed Computing

Being remote doesn't have to be a bad thing

Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI), hands-on, very detailed

614

(11)

Servlets (a quick look)

625

(6)

Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), a very quick look

631

(1)

Jini, the best trick of all

632

(4)

Building the really cool universal service browser

636

(12)

The End

648

(2)

Appendix A

The final Code Kitchen project

BeatBoxFinal (client code)

650

(7)

MusicServer (server code)

657

(3)

Appendix B

The Top Ten Things that didn't make it into the book

Top Ten List

660

(17)

Index

677

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