About This Book

With Mac OS X, Apple delivers a Java implementation that adds value for both developers and end users. Java is fully integrated into Mac OS X, which offers developers easy access to the Aqua user interface, UNIX-based tools and technologies, QuickTime, OpenGL, and Cocoa. This built-in flexibility allows developers to create robust, well-designed applications that offer users a wide range of rich features and functionality.

This book provides an overview of Java development on Mac OS X and discusses the available features. It also provides simple examples on using the development tools available with Mac OS X.

This book is for the Java developer interested in writing Java applications on Mac OS X version 10.2 with Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) version 1.3.1. It does not discuss Java 2 Standard Edition version 1.4 on Mac OS X. Information on previous versions of Java on Mac OS X can be found in the Release Notes at http://developer.apple.com/documentation/java. It is primarily geared toward developers of pure Java applications, but it will also be useful for Cocoa Java development and WebObjects Java development.

This is not a tutorial for the Java language. If you are not already proficient in Java, this document will still be helpful to you but it will not teach you about the Java language and J2SE packages. Many resources exist in print and on the Web for learning the Java programming language. If you are new to programming in Java, you may want to start with one of Sun’s tutorials available online at http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/new2java/.

How to Use This Book

Overall, the purpose is document to highlight how Java development in Mac OS X may be different if you are accustomed to Java development on other platforms. It does not attempt to present a conclusive overview of Java itself. It is meant as a supplemental guide to help you save time and development effort. It introduces you to the tools available to you, discusses some details of how Java is implemented, points out potential trouble spots, and provides some reference documentation.

This book has information for many different types of Java developers. To help you determine what information is important for you the following listing provides an overview of the contents of the following chapters:

Other Resources

This document and other Java documentation for Mac OS X, including the javadoc API reference, is available online at http://developer.apple.com/documentation/java. A subset of this documentation is installed in /Developer/Documentation/Mac OS X/Java on a Mac OS X system with the Mac OS X Developer Tools. You can view this documentation through a Web Browser or through Project Builder (from Project Builder’s Help menu, choose Developer Help Center).

The main Java technology page http://developer.apple.com/java contains many links to information about Java development in Mac OS X.

The java-dev mailing list is a great source of information on a wide range of Java development topics in Mac OS X. You can sign up for this list at http://lists.apple.com.

Sun’s Java site, http://java.sun.com is the essential reference point for Java development in general.

Filing and Tracking Bugs

If you find issues with the implementation of Java that are not represented in this document or want to follow the resolution of an issue, you may do so online through Radar, Apple’s bug tracking system. To access Radar, you will need an Apple Developer Connection (ADC) account. You can view the ADC membership options, including the free online membership at, http://developer.apple.com/membership/index.html. With an ADC membership, you can file and view bugs at http://bugreport.apple.com. When filing new bugs for Java on Mac OS X, please use Java (new bugs) for the Component and X as the Version.