Re: I know code, but not the logistics of JAVA, can anyone help?
googlegroups@paul13.com wrote:
I have a few questions...
Random answers below...
1) I thought that I would use JAVA so that I could give the program to
any student and they could run it on their computer regardless if it is
a mac or PC. My students won't be running any other systems. Now I am
hearing that a stand alone program will only run if JAVA is installed.
I thought that all PC's and macs came with the ability to run JAVA
programs. Is this wrong?
As mentioned, Java is not pre-installed on all machines. You may have
to manually download the J2SE on each machine, or ask the students to do it.
2) Why would someone want to do this in JAVA 1.5 as opposed to JAVA 2.
Is there an advantage/disadvantage?
The marketing team at Sun needs help badly.
Java 2 is Java 1.2. Java 5 is Java 1.5. Therefore, Java 2 is quite old
and Java 1.5 is the latest thing. If I was in charge at Sun, bad things
would happen to the person who came up with this numbering scheme.
3) I have had some people tell me that this should be an applet as
opposed to a stand alone program or application. Will this make it
easier to have the code run on any computer? Will this help it look
nicer? I am not sure what is what here.
I think it's a good idea. Be aware that there are 3 or so ways of
making an "applet," and they are really different.
1. A real applet. Java runs inside a browswer. This will work on
almost any machine, if you code to the correct Java spec (1.1, I think,
which as you now know is quite old. Check the machines your school runs
if you need to get a more recent version supported.)
2. Javascript. Javascript is NOT Java, but a dynamic app could make a
reasonable random number program. Like #1, this runs on the browser and
not on a server.
3. Web app. This is an server based application that runs on one
machine, and people look at on their web browser. Most "real" websites
are built this way, and I think it's a good idea. The down-side is that
you also have to maintain Apache, Tomcat (two web servers) and a large
chuck of hardware too (the server). Might not be best for the
beleaguered educator. Plus you need a functioning network. This is
likely to have a learning curve for you like scaling the outside of the
Empire State Building.
4. Java WebStart. This is a simple way of distributing a regular old
Java program. It's completely separate from any of the above. All it
does is provide a link to your Java program, and then downloads and runs
it. Makes for a nice distribution, but there might be a few things to
maintain for you (but not nearly as bad as #3 above.)
4) is there anything else I should know about JAVA and have a program
such as this written in JAVA?
See above. PhP and ASP aren't real programming languages, so watch out.
ASP isn't even ASP, it's Visual Basic (usually). ASP is the objects
and API, but VB is the language. You may wish to consider a basic
programming course for yourself.
5) what is the difference between a "console", "window", "GUI" and
"swing" program?
Consoles are traditional applications, developed (mostly) on the famous
Berkeley UNIX systems. The "console" part comes in because that's what
they were written on and for: ASCII consoles with 80 columns by 24 rows
of characters. NO GRAPHICS at all (unless you played Nethack ;)).
Window, GUI and Swing are all equivalent. Window is a generic term for
those little boxes with text and buttons that you see everywhere on
your screen. GUI is "Graphical User Interface." Now-a-days, that means
a window. Swing is Java's API for making windows, and a good choice for
Java.
Thanks for the help!!!
Paul Osborne