Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Sun/Oracle's
javac
compiler is the official reference implementation. There were several al-
the most part, no longer actively maintained.
There have also been some Java runtime clones, including
Apache Harmony
,
Japhar
, the
IBM Jikes Runtime (from the same site as Jikes), and even
JNODE
, a complete, standalone
operating system written in Java, but since the Sun/Oracle JVM has been open-sourced
(GPL), most of these projects have become unmaintained. Harmony was retired by Apache
in November 2011, although parts of it are still in use (e.g., parts of Harmony's JavaSE
runtime library are used in the popular
Android mobile operating system
).
Mac OS X
The JDK is pure command line. At the other end of the spectrum in terms of keyboard-
versus-visual, we have the Apple Macintosh. Topics have been written about how great the
Mac user interface is, and I won't step into that debate. Mac OS X (Release 10.x of Mac OS)
is built upon a BSD Unix (and “Mach”) base. As such, it has a regular command line (the
Terminal application, hidden away under
/Applications/Utilities
), as well as all the traditional
Mac tools. Java SE 6 was provided by Apple and available through Software Update. Effect-
ive with Java 7,
Apple has devolved this support to Oracle
to make the distributions, which
are now
available for download
(avoid the
JRE-only downloads
). More information on
Oracle Java for OS X is
available
.
Mac OS X users can use the command-line JDK tools as above or Ant (see
Automating
Compilation with Apache Ant
)
. Compiled classes can be packaged into “clickable applica-
tions” using the Jar Packager discussed in
Running a Program from a JAR
. Alternatively,
Mac fans can use one of the many full IDE tools discussed in
Compiling, Running, and Test-
Editing and Compiling with a Syntax-Highlighting Editor
Problem
You are tired of command-line tools, but not ready for an IDE.
Solution
Use a syntax-highlighting editor.
