revised 02/18/99, 01/31/00, 05/20/02


CHAPTER 5 — Introduction to Java

The previous chapters have discussed computer hardware, computer software, bits and bytes, machine language, language translation, language interpretation, and virtual machines. This chapter assumes that you know all that and are ready to look at Java.

Chapter Topics:

These notes are written for JavaTM 2 SDK Standard Edition version 1.3 or higher. The current release is version 1.4.2 (as of June, 2003). Earlier versions will usually work for these notes and may be easier to obtain (perhaps on a CD that came with a book.)

QUESTION 1:

Is it necessary to spend lots of money to get Java?