Summary

This chapter introduced the Java language and the tools you need for working with Java. It described the key components of the language and some of its additional capabilities, such as GUI programming and multithreaded applications.

Many additional capabilities of the Java language and class libraries have not been discussed in this chapter. For example,

• Java EE is the enterprise version of Java, for creating server-side applications.

• Java ME is a version of Java for creating applications for devices such as cell phones.

• Servlets are Java objects that dynamically extend the functionality of a Web server. Applets and servlets work together to build a Web application.

• JavaBeans are software components written in Java. The Enterprise JavaBeans specification defines a set of services that are available for Java components that execute on a server.

• Remote Method Invocation (RMI) enables Java objects on one machine to invoke methods of Java objects on another machine.

• Java Card provides a specialized JVM that executes on a smart card.

Consult the Sun Microsystems web site at http://java.sun.com to learn more about these and other Java-related technologies.

Note that JavaScript, which is a scripting language that is often used to embed code in web pages, is not on this list. That’s because it is not especially similar to Java, except for the name. JavaScript is discussed in Chapter 27, along with other Internet programming languages.