Visual J Plus Plus apps

Java isn't normally associated with app development-associated with those cute little applets that jazz up Web pages, sure, but with apps like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, almost never.

You might not know that you have always been able to use Java to create apps. A form can be treated like an applet to create a windowed app. Few programmers do this, however, because the results have not been impressive-at least, not until the advent of Microsoft Visual J Plus Plus and its support for the Microsoft Windows Foundation Classes for Java (WFC).

WFC turns Java into a first-class app language. Using WFC, Java programmers can create apps with the same look and feel as apps generated by their Microsoft Visual C++-wielding and Microsoft Visual Basic-wielding brethren while enjoying the ease of Java.

In Part I of this tutorial, you'll see how to build Java console apps. Console apps are apps that do not use windows to display information. In appearance they resemble MS-DOS programs.

In the first chapter, I'll demonstrate generic console apps. Chapters 2 and 3 describe WFC-based, Microsoft Windows-specific Java apps.