Online Resources for Java Programmers

The Web offers many resources to help you use the Java platform. This section lists some that we use ourselves, or that we've heard good things about.

Caveat: A Web site that's good one year might stagnate the next, and it can be difficult to tell unless you know the site well. Please tell us if any of these Web sites is obsolete, or if you have a URL for an excellent resource not mentioned here.

We list three kinds of resources:

General Programming Resources
Web sites that provide information useful to most developers.
Specialized Programming Resources
Sources of more specialized programming information. Examples include assorted tutorials, The Swing Connection, and a Web site for Macintosh programmers.
Other Resources
Other stuff, such as the latest industry news. Don't forget that our Tutorial has many examples, and that you can search all the java.sun.com tutorials (outside of the tutorial). Another source of resources is the Help section (outside of the tutorial) of java.sun.com.

General Programming Resources

The Java Developer ConnectionSM
http://developer.java.sun.com (outside of the tutorial)

Essential. Here are some of the things you can do at the JDC:

  • research bugs
  • vote for which bugs should be fixed first
  • view tutorials and book samples
  • download early access software
  • chat with developers and API architects
Code Conventions
http://java.sun.com/docs/codeconv/ (outside of the tutorial)
Conventions that developers within Sun try to follow when writing programs in the Java programming language.
About.com Focus on Java
http://java.about.com (outside of the tutorial)
Has articles and links to many resources.
JavaWorld Magazine
http://www.javaworld.net (outside of the tutorial)
Has articles about current programming topics.
Java Boutique
http://javaboutique.internet.com (outside of the tutorial)
Has applets (some including source code), tutorials, book reviews, and more.
Java Developer's Journal
http://www.sys-con.com/java/ (outside of the tutorial)
An online subset of a print magazine. Includes source code and selected articles.

Specialized Programming Resources
The J2EETM Tutorial
http://java.sun.com/j2ee/tutorial/index.html (outside of the tutorial)
A beginner's guide to developing enterprise applications on the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition SDK.

Java 3DTM API Tutorial
http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/3D/collateral/ (outside of the tutorial)

Has descriptions and examples of the most commonly used features in the Java 3D API.

XML Technologies
http://java.sun.com/xml/tutorial_intro.html (outside of the tutorial)

Introduces XML and tells you how to use the Java XML APIs.

The JNDI Tutorial
http://java.sun.com/products/jndi/tutorial/ (outside of the tutorial)

Tells you how to use the JavaTM Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) for associating names and attributes with objects.

JDC Tutorials
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/ (outside of the tutorial)

Many tutorials, covering a wealth of topics. Subjects include JavaBeans, Enterprise JavaBeans, JDBC, and Java 2D.

The Swing Connection
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/ (outside of the tutorial)

The Swing engineering team's Web site. Has articles written both by Swing creators and by external programmers who use Swing.

The Swing/JFC FAQ
http://www.drye.com/java/faq.html (outside of the tutorial)

Unofficial answers to frequently asked questions about Swing.

Apple's Developer Site
http://developer.apple.com/java/ (outside of the tutorial)

For programmers who use Macs.

Other Resources
How To Write Unmaintainable Code
http://mindprod.com/unmain.html (outside of the tutorial)
Long, funny essay on how (not) to write code that no one else can read.
Slashdot
http://slashdot.org/search.pl?topic=108 (outside of the tutorial)
News and discussions about the Java platform.