Free Tools

To help promote the Java language, Sun initially released a free Java Development Kit (JDK). This development kit included the compiler and an assortment of other tools. All these tools are command line based, meaning you have to type in commands to use the tools. While the JDK as of the time of this writing (and most likely long after) remains free, it is lacking when compared to the commercial Java development tools that are available. Still, for just learning Java and for those out there who canÕt afford commercial tools, it is quite usable. In fact, even if you are using commercial tools, I would recommend downloading a copy of Sun's JDK, especially if you want to be using the latest version of the compiler.

In addition to the JDK, the documentation should be downloaded. The documentation is available in html format. The API's are all documented using the Javadoc format. The Javadoc format has changed slightly as the JDK has matured. I will discuss Javadoc later.

One thing about Java that can be a bit confusing is the numbering scheme that is used. After Java 1.0 there were a few minor updates, such as 1.02, before Sun introduced their major revision 1.1. Java 1.1 modified the way input events are handled as well as adding a few other features. The JDKs up to this point followed the version of java. Instead of releasing java 1.2, Sun decided that the 1.2 upgrade would be considered a major upgrade and promoted it as Java 2. For some reason, the JDK remained as JDK 1.2, with JDK 1.3 and at the time I write this JDK 1.4 being released.

Now, if the JDK numbering scheme is not confusing, you get into real confusion when it comes to browsers. Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browsers from version four to the current version 6 only supports the java 1.1 standard. While it is possible to download a plug-in from Sun that has support for the latest JDK version many users do not download plug-ins. What this means in simple terms is that if you are developing Java applications, you will have no problem using the latest version of the JDK, but if you are developing applets for general internet use, then you should limit yourself to using the JDK 1.1 standard.

Why free?

Some of you may be wondering why Sun would release the JDK for free. While releasing the plug-ins to run content for free makes a lot of sense as the company can still make money selling the tools to create content for the plug-in, the JDK actually lets people create content.

There are many reasons why the tools are free. I will cover a few of them here.

First, the tools are all command line based tools. While possible to create anything that an IDE based tool can create, the command line just simply isn't as nice to use. Commercial Java IDEs are available, including ones from Sun.

Second, to get the language to grow, Sun needed a way to get people to use the language. Having free tools is a really good way to get people to at least investigate what is possible with the language.

Third, Sun makes money selling servers. Java applets and servlets require servers to be used. If Java is popular, the sale of servers should increase.