Working with Text

If you've been reading this tutorial sequentially, you've read all about the core Java language constructs, including the object-oriented aspects of the language and the use of threads. Now it's time to shift gears and start talking about the Java app Programming Interface (API), the collection of classes that comprise the standard Java packages and come with every Java implementation. Java's core packages are one of its most distinguishing features. Many other object-oriented languages have similar features, but none has as extensive a set of standardized APIs and tools as Java does. This is both a reflection of and a reason for Java's success. lists the most important packages in the API and shows which chapters discuss each of the packages.

Table 10-1. Java API packages

Package

Contents

java.lang

Basic language classes

4-9

java.lang.reflect

Reflection

7

java.util.concurrent

Thread utilities

9

java.text

java.util.regex

International text classes and regular expressions

10

java.util

Utilities and collections classes

10-12

java.io

java.nio

Input and output

12

java.net

Networking and Remote Method Invocation classes

13-14

java.rmi

Remote Method Invocation classes

13

javax.servlet

Web apps

15

javax.swing

java.awt

Swing GUI and 2D graphics

16-20

java.awt.image javax.imageio javax.media

Images, sound, and video

21

java.beans

JavaBeans API

22

java.applet

The Applet API

23

javax.xml

The XML API

24


As you can see in , we have examined some classes in java.lang in earlier chapters while looking at the core language constructs. Starting with this chapter, we throw open the Java toolbox and begin examining the rest of the API classes, starting with text-related utilities, because they are fundamental to all kinds of apps.