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Programming languages on the web come and go. Stay tuned for the next language. Java seems to be destined to stay for awhile. Created by Sun Microsystems, it is a programming language similar to C++, one of today's most used languages in the industry. It is especially valuable for the Web, however, because it is platform independent. It will run the same on a Windows machine as it will on Macintosh, Sun, or Linux operating system. Another great feature of Java is that most Java is downloaded to the clients machine and uses the processor on that machine rather than Internet bandwidth.

Java was made popular when Netscape 2.0 added a machine language(1's and 0's) interpreter in 1995. This allowed the browser to read the compiled machine language of a Java applet. The Java applet(small application written to be executed within an web document) is downloaded with the HTML document and tagged in the HTML to run at the appropriate time. Java is an object-oriented language, meaning that everything, including text is defined as an object and given properties (data) and functions(methods). Java also organizes objects into classes to simplify the programming. Java, is however, anything but simple compared to what you have learned in HTML class.

Here is some sample Java code:
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.net.*;

public class Pass1 extends Applet {

TextField usernameField;
TextField passwordField;
boolean badPass = false;
URL passwordURL("good.htm");
URL badURL("bad.htm");

public void init() {
setBackground(Color.white);
add(new Label("User name"));
usernameField = new TextField(10);
add(usernameField);
add(new Label("Password"));
passwordField = new TextField(10);
add(passwordField);
}
}

PCSH used to offer a Java Class, but no longer does. You can take it at many 2 year and 4 year colleges. If you want to learn it on your own, the first thing you should do is visit the Java home page at Sun Microsystems and download the Java Developer's Kit (JDK) and the documentation that goes with it. It's important to download the version that matches the operating system on which you'll be doing your development. But once it's compiled, an applet built with the JDK will run on any system for which a Java browser is available. And, of course, here's the not a plug again. PeachPit Press has a Java Visual Quick Start Guide. Java is a difficult enough language that the QuickStart Guide will only just get you started.

If you are like most of us, learning Java does not fit into your plans. Fortunately, there are tons of sites giving away free Java applets that you can download and insert into your webpage. Many are quite user friendly in allowing you to modify the applet. Try these sites for free Java applets:
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