How to use an IDE with this book
Murach's Java SE 6 shows how to develop Java
applications with TextPad, a text editor that's designed
for Java. And it shows how to develop graphical user
interfaces (GUIs) by writing the Swing code needed to
define a GUI.
But we realize that you may prefer working with an IDE (integrated development environment) for everyday development tasks. And you may prefer using a graphical tool known as a GUI builder to automatically generate most of your Swing code.
That's why we have created several downloadable tutorials that show how to use Murach's Java SE 6 with some of the most popular IDEs for Java development: Eclipse, NetBeans, and BlueJ. For more details, please read on. Otherwise, just click on the material you want to access:
By most accounts, Eclipse is the most widely-used IDE for developing Java applications. It is free, open-source, cross-platform, and provides plug-ins for a wide range of tasks. Although it can be a little tricky to get started with this IDE, it's a powerful tool that's used by many professional programmers.
To make it easy for you to use our book with Eclipse, you can download our Eclipse tutorial. Although this tutorial only scratches the surface of the functionality that's available from Eclipse, it teaches you all the skills that you need to get started with Eclipse and to complete the applications presented in our book.
You can also download Eclipse
versions of the source code for this book. This
includes all of the applications presented in the book,
as well as all of the starting points for the exercises.
Downloading and using these files will save you a lot
of time that would otherwise be spent creating and configuring
Eclipse projects.
If you want to use Eclipse to build graphical user interfaces, the bad news is that the core distribution of Eclipse doesn't include a GUI builder that's easy to use. As a result, we recommend using the Matisse4MyEclipse plug-in that comes as part of the MyEclipse plug-in (Matisse is an easy-to-use GUI builder that's available in various IDEs). Although this plug-in isn't free, the pricing is reasonable (about $53 per year), and you can download a trial version for free from the MyEclipse web site.
Our Eclipse GUI tutorial shows how to install and configure MyEclipse. Then, it shows how to use MyEclipse to develop the Future Value application presented in chapter 15 of this book. You can also download Matisse versions of the applications in chapters 15-18, so you can experiment with them without building them yourself.
NetBeans is a user-friendly alternative to Eclipse
that's appropriate for programmers who are getting started
with Java. Like Eclipse, NetBeans is free, open-source,
and cross-platform.
To make it easy for you to use our book with NetBeans,
you can download our NetBeans
tutorial. Although it only scratches the surface
of the functionality that's available from NetBeans,
it teaches you all the skills that you need to complete
the applications presented in our book.
You can also download NetBeans
versions of the source code for this book. This
includes all of the applications presented in the book
as well as all of the starting points for the exercises. Downloading and using these files will save you a lot of time that would otherwise be spent creating and configuring NetBeans projects.
If you want to use NetBeans to build graphical user interfaces, you can use the Matisse
GUI builder that's a part of NetBeans (there's no need for a separate plug-in as there is with Eclipse). Our NetBeans GUI
tutorial shows you how, by taking you through the development of
the Future Value application that's presented in chapter 15
of this book. You can also download Matisse versions of the applications in chapters 15-18, so you can experiment with them without building them yourself.
BlueJ is a free IDE for developing Java applications that can be downloaded from the BlueJ web site. It's designed to make it easier for students to understand object-oriented programming, so it's used most often in college programs.
To learn how to use this software in conjunction with our book, please download the BlueJ tutorial that we've prepared. As you'll soon discover, the applications in our book all work with BlueJ as is. So if you haven't already downloaded the book applications, you can do so by going to the Downloads page for the book.
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