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When we first started writing about Java for Oracle developers, we began with what Oracle developers would be most interested in-JDBC, SQL, and Java-stored procedures. However, we quickly realized the code samples and discussions would be gibberish without an understanding of the Java programming language itself. Therefore, we've created a series of articles covering this topic.
This first article will cover the basics of writing a Java program. We'll explain how to display text as shown in Figure A. Next month, in the second article of the series, we'll concentrate on the object-oriented features of Java and look at implementing Java programs as applets, servlets, and Java-stored procedures. Finally, once you understand the basics, we'll discuss JDBC and SQL in the third article.
We focus this article on the technical implementation of Java and we're not going to pretend that these articles will be a complete discussion on everything you'll ever need to know about Java. However, they will cover the basics and will get you started with Java and its interaction with Oracle. There are a lot of good books available that cover Java in excruciating detail. We've included a suggested reading list at the end of this article.
Getting started
To get started writing your first Java code, all you need is a text editor and Sun's Java Software Developer Kit (JSDK). The current JSDK release is 1.2.2, although version 1.3 is available for beta testing. (Note that Java 2.0 is the same version as Java 1.2.) We suggest you avoid the beta releases until you become proficient with the Java language.
You can download the JSDK for free from Sun for Windows, UNIX, and Linux environments at java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2. The Windows download includes everything you need-the JVM, core Java classes, compiler, and supporting files. However, UNIX users will need to download the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) separately (available at the same URL). The JRE consists of the JVM and other files necessary for running Java programs. Because installation is different depending on your operating system, Sun does a great job of explaining how to install to your particular environment.
While there are plenty of third-party tools available for writing Java programs, Oracle's JDeveloper being one of them, not everyone has access to...