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Part 1. Introduction    Part 3. Types and expressions

Module 1, part 2. Integrated development environments

Introduction

This course uses the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) DrJava because:

  1. It is free,
  2. It has few of the bells and whistles that professional IDEs have, which may get in the way of the beginner, and
  3. It has an "interactions pane", in which one can have any Java expression evaluated or statement executed, which greatly facilitates using Java and teaching programming using Java.

All of the computers in CIT's labs have DrJava on them. If you have your own computer, you will want to put DrJava on it so that you can work in your room (or elsewhere, if it is a laptop). We tell you how to do this here.

Later, you may be using the IDE Eclipse, and we are working on providing you with a short tutorial on its use.

Contents

No. Topic Discussion
1. Putting DrJava on your computer. (html)
Reading: Gries/Gries, App. I.1, p. 482.
This web page will help you figure out how to get DrJava on your computer. The webpage is more up to date than appendix I of Gries/Gries.
2. Using DrJava. Watch the first three lectures on page 19-1 of the CD ProgramLive.
Reading: Gries/Gries, App. I.1, p. 482–489. 		These lectures show you the basics of using DrJava. Watch them!

This is important. Java requires a variable to be declared before it can be used. For example, the declaration "int x;" indicates that a variable named x that can contain values of type int is needed. However, the Interactions Pane of DrJava is more lenient and does not require them IF you fix the preferences. Use menu item Edit->Preferences to open the Preferences Window, click "Interactions Pane" in the left column, and uncheck the box "Require Variable Type"

Next, click "Display Options" in the left column and check the box "Show All Line Numbers".

Finally, click "Miscellaneous" in the left column and change the Inden Level to 4.
3. Using the IDE Eclipse.
(doc)		 Eclipse is a free, open-source IDE. It was originally created by IBM in 2001 and supported by a number of software vendors. The Eclipse Foundation, with website www.eclipse.org/, was created in 2004 as an independent, not-for-profit corporation.

There is no need to read this now if you are not using Eclipse!