Interactive Programming with Java Applets
Software Setup

Home Computer Setup

Software

All of the software you need to complete this course is installed on the computers in the CS Department. However, many of you will want to work at home. Here is a short list of the software you'll need to install on your computer to complete the course. All of this software is free.

Windows Platform

Operating System Version
You will need Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, W2K, or XP. You cannot use Windows 3.1 or a version of Windows NT earlier than 4.0. I strongly recommend that you use W2K or XP rather than one of the earlier operating systems.

Compiler & Software Development Kit
The easiest way to get the correct version of Java on your computer is to go to the RamCT webpage, click on the Browser Check and look for any problems with Java. If you do not have the correct version of Java, there will be a button for you to click on to install the correct version.
You can also download Java from Sun'S site or access: java.sun.com (look for Downloads).
If you download from Sun's site, do not download netBeans or J2EE. It should be the JDK or JRE and not "JDK source code".

Macintosh Platform

You can complete this course using the Macintosh as long as you use Mac OS X or greater. You cannot use earlier versions of the Mac OS to complete the course.

Mac OS X already has the Java 2 SDK installed as part of the operating system, and Internet Explorer will automatically use the built-in Java 2, (as will the Safari browser).
To get the most up-to-date version, go to the RamCT login page and run the browser check. Look under "Java" and follow the instructions provided to install the most recent version of Java.
If you want more information on Mac-specific Java topics, visit the Apple Java page or Apples' Java Developer area.

When working on the Mac, you can use Eclipse, just like everyone else in the class.

Linux and other Platforms

For Linux, you can now get the latest version of the Java directly from Sun or run the browser check for RamCT.

In addition, Sun maintains a list of Java Platform Ports you may be interested in if your computer system is a little more exotic.

IDE - Eclipse

We will be using the Eclipse Java Integrated Development Environment (IDE) in class. You can download the latest version of Eclipse from http://www.eclipse.org.
Click on "Download" and select the option: "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers" Be sure to select the correct platform (Mac, Windows or Linux). On the next page, select any of the mirrors listed.

Eclipse is a free, open source program, written in Java, and originally created by IBM. It is used as the basis for IBM's Websphere Application Developer IDE.

Eclipse works fine on Unix, Mac OS X, and Windows, but it does require a fairly up-to-date machine--at least 256 MB memory, for instance.

Europa Eclipse: By default, Europa version of Eclipse stores your Java source code files in a directory called 'src' and the bytecode .class files in a directory called 'bin'. In order to use the examples in this book, we need to changes this so all the files are stored in the same directory. To do so, go through the following steps:

  1. Go to File..New Project. A window pops up "New Java Project"
  2. Find the "Project Layout" group box. This is a section of the window that has two radio buttons in it. They have the following text: "Use project folder as root for sources and class files" and "Create separate folders for sources and class files."
  3. There is also a blue link that says "Configure Default...". Click on this link. A new window appears that is titled "Preferences (filtered)".
  4. In this window there is a group box titled "Source and output folder" with two radio buttons: "Project" and "Folders"
  5. Select the "Project" radio button.
  6. Select "OK" at the bottom right corner of the window
  7. Select "Cancel" on the "New Java Project" window.
Now when creating a new Java project, the "Use project folder as root for sources and class files" radio button should always be selected. This is what we want.

FTP Client

You can use the built-in Windows FTP client by using a command-prompt window, but most of you will probably prefer a graphical FTP client like OpenSSH or Putty for Windows. You can also use Windows Explorer itself as your FTP client, by entering the information in the Location bar of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (substituting your login ID for the CS machines for mine "boese"):