Getting The Software
In order to be able to write programs in Java at home, you’ll need
to obtain and install some software.
It's all free for personal use. It's also included in the Thompson edition
of the textbook, on a CD-ROM that's at the back of the book. If you're
using an earlier version of the book, or you don't have the CD, you can freely
download this software from the Internet.
Some of these files can be quite
large (37+MB), so I’d recommend downloading this stuff while at school (the
networks here are pretty fast), and carrying it home either on a Zip disk, or
CD-R (or CD-RW).
This software has also been installed on the classroom computers (in room 231),
the hallway computers, and some of the computer in the Open Learning Center here at Cascadia.
For the 2009 Spring term you may need to configure jGrasp for your use, so you
can skip to Step 6.
You should anticipate spending as much as 2-4 hours to get all
your software downloaded and installed correctly, more if you’re trying
to download this stuff over a slow connect. As
such, you should allot enough time to both get all this software AND to
actually do your first homework assignment.
If you can’t get this to work, please ask and I’ll try and help out.
If you have a laptop you are encouraged to bring the laptop to class so that the
instructor can trouble-shoot any problems directly on your computer.
Do remember that Cascadia has public computer labs which you
can use – if nothing else, you can always go there and use those computers. As such, I won’t accept excuses such as “My
homework is late because I couldn’t install the software”
- Download the Java SE
Development Kit (JDK)
(This step has already been done for you on the computers at
Cascadia)
(If you have the version of the textbook published by Thompson publishing,
you will find this software on a CD-ROM at the back of the book)
First, you need to get the Java Development Kit (JDK) from the
company that makes it, Sun Microsystems.
Luckily, they give it away for free :)
We want to get the JDK that contains the product known as “Java 2
Platform, Standard Edition (Core/Desktop)” (J2SE). The JDK itself is given a separate version number –It’s
important that you get version 6 (or later) of the JDK (which contains
version 6 of
the Java programming language).
A link to the correct file to
download is:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk-6u26-download-400750.html
(Oracle
has decided to bury the Windows version of the JDK most of the way down the
list - it's the link that reads "jdk-6u26-windows-i586.exe")
(You will need to click on the 'accept the agreement' radio button before doing
the download)
Note that the website contains their most recent version of the
software, so if they update the JDK and I don't notice, it'll be ok for you to
get that newer version. Example: I tell you to get version 6u26, and
they've replaced it with 6u32. As long as the numbers are equal to or
higher the ones I specify, you should be fine (6u32
is 'bigger than' 6u26).
It’s also very important that you get (and install) the JDK first,
since a number of other software packages require the JDK to be installed
before them. Note that there’s a
Java Runtime Environment (JRE). This ISN’T enough – it will let you run
Java programs that other people have created, but won’t let you create any
on your own.
Lastly, if you previously installed a version of Java (say, version 1.4
from either the JRE or the JDK) I’d recommend un-installing the prior version,
then installing this
version. If you do this, make sure
to put the new JDK into the same location as your old one.
Make sure that you download the file from
column labelled "JDK" (or "SDK"), instead of the JRE. The JRE ("Java Runtime
Environment") contains all the software that you need, in order to RUN Java
programs, but not WRITE/CREATE Java programs. The JDK ("Java Development Kit")
or SDK ("Software Development Kit") contains everything you need to
DEVELOP/WRITE/CREATE Java-based software in addition to running Java programs.
- Download the JDK documentation
(This step has already been done for you on the computers at
Cascadia)
Oracle maintains documentation for Java programmers
on-line at
http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/
While this is convenient, you can only use it if you’re on-line. You can also download your own copy of
most of the documentation by going back to:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
Please note that this .ZIP file contains a collection of other files, all of
which are compressed. If you're running WindowsXP or later, you can
right-click on the the file (once you've downloaded it), and select "Extract
All", and Windows will extract the contents of the .ZIP file for you.
If you're running an older verison of windows, you may need a program such as
7Zip (http://www.7-zip.org/), PowerArchiver (http://www.powerarchiver.com/),
or WinZip (http://www.winzip.com/) in
order to open the file. If you're using a different operating system, you
should find a tool that will extract .ZIP files appropriate for your platform.
- Install the JDK and
JDK documentation
(This step has already been done for you on the computers at
Cascadia)
Once you’ve downloaded the above two items, you should install
them on your hard drive. I’d
accept whatever defaults the JDK suggests in terms of location, etc. Put the documentation into a
subdirectory (subfolder) of the JDK, and name that directory (folder) something like “docs”.
- Download the development
environment: jGrasp
(This step has already been done for you on the computers at Cascadia)
(If you have the version of the textbook published by Thompson publishing, you
will find this software on a CD-ROM at the back of the book)
Technically, you can develop Java programs using nothing more than the
JDK, Notepad, and a command prompt.
However, this can be tricky, so we’ll be using an Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) to let us focus on writing Java, not on
making the JDK do what we want.
We’ll be using the jGrasp IDE during class, and I’d
recommend that you use the same software at home, as well. You can
download a free version from:
http://spider.eng.auburn.edu/user-cgi/grasp/grasp.pl?;dl=download_jgrasp.html
Again, getting a version that is newer than Cascadia's shouldn't hurt. You should download the
version that's appropriate for your operating system (for Windows, the
top-most button, labeled jGRASP.exe, is what you want)
Once you’ve downloaded the IDE, you should then install it. It may need to be told where your JDK
is (which you’ve already installed, right?).
For Advanced Students Only: You’re free to use any other IDE that
you want – Eclipse has gotten good reviews (http://www.eclipse.org), and is widely
used in industry.
The NetBeans
project is also a solid choice (http://www.netbeans.org).
If you choose to use anything
other than jGRASP, you’re on your own if you run into problems. While I’ll
try and offer help, I won’t really be able to guarantee anything. I can't
guarantee that I'll be able to fix any problems you have at home, with jGRASP,
either, but I do know more about jGrasp, and so can probably be of more help
:) .
- Download the Robot
software
(This step is specific to BIT 115 - if you're in anything else, you don't have to
do this step)
You’ll need some custom software in order to actually write programs that use
the Java-based “Karel The Robot”. This
version of the software was created by Byron Weber Becker, at the University
of Waterloo in Canada. You'll need
the following three files.
Here at school, I would recommend placing them in
your personal folders, which should be mapped to the H: drive letter.
Further, I'd create a folder named BIT115, and within that, create a
folder named Robot, and move all three files that you downloaded in step
5 there. At this point, you'd don't need to un-ZIP the Robot
documentation or examples, although you should feel free to look through them
on your own, if you're curious.
You may have to download the files by RIGHT-clicking on each link, and
selecting Save Target As from the pop-up menu that appears.
- The .JAR file containing all the robots, etc:
becker.jar
If you don't download this file and install it correctly, NONE OF
YOUR PROGRAMS WILL WORK!! Please see the Lecture 1 tutorial
for more details on install this file so that jGrasp will know how to
find it.
-
Configure jGrasp for
home use
If you're working on your own computer at
home, you _have_ do this step. It's also listed in the In Class Exercises
for Lecture 1, just so you don't forget!
During the
2009 Spring term, you may also need to do this for the computers at school, as
well.
In addition to the functionality that
standard Java gives us, we're going to use some custom software that will
simulate robots. This software is found in the named becker.jar, which you
downloaded when you installed all the other software. (JAR is short for
Java ARchive, by the way.)
However, before you can write Java programs
that use this, you need to tell JGrasp where to find the file. You do this
by seting the classpath to make JGrasp locate becker.jar NONE OF
YOUR PROGRAMS WILL WORK UNTIL YOU DO THIS. However, you will only need to
do this ONCE – just the first time that you start JGrasp on a given
machine.
To set the classpath, open the
Settings menu and select the PATH / CLASSPATH option,
and then finally the Workspace menu item (see Figure 4.) You will see a dialog window that resembles Figure 5. First click on the CLASSPATHS tab (not merely the
PATHS tab), and then click the New button, and you'll see another
dialog window that resembles Figure 6. Click on the button labeled
Browse, and find the Becker.jar file that you've downloaded. Becker.jar
contains all of the custom software that we'll need to simulate our robots.
You may also add the documentation here, if you'd like, but you're not
required to. When you click OK, you should an entry in the window, which is
circled in blue in the Figure 5, below. Click OK button (circled in pink) to
get back to the main editor window.
- Download a template for the first day
For the first day, you'll use a template to get you started. You will be
expected to eventually be able to create an entire Java program from scratch
(with no help from books, or your peers), but for the first day, you'll use a
pre-written file to get you doing something interesting immediately. You
can download that file from:
Starting_Template.java
Please save this file into the BIT115 folder that you created in Step 5.
Make sure to keep the name of the file (Starting_Template.java) exactly the same.
Now you're ready to go on to the tutorial, where you'll start learning how to program!