Top 10 Java Classes

Thought of compiling a list of classes that are popular among java programmers. Should I say most essential? There is no strict rules for the selection, in fact there are no rules followed. Classes that popped up on top of mind are listed below. You are welcome to add your own list. This list will vary depending on the type of java project you work on. These classes I have listed does not require any introduction and they are as popular as Salmankhan in java world.

1. java.lang.String
   String class will be the undisputed champion on any day by popularity and none will deny that. This is a final class and used to create / operate immutable string literals. It was available from JDK 1.0
2. java.lang.System
   Usage of System depends on the type of project you work on. You may not be using it in your project but still it is one of the popular java classes around. This is a utility class and cannot be instantiated. Main uses of this class are access to standard input, output, environment variables, etc. Available since JDK 1.0
3. java.lang.Exception
   Throwable is the super class of all Errors and Exceptions. All abnormal conditions that can be handled comes under Exception. NullPointerException is the most popular among all the exceptions. Exception is at top of hierarchy of all such exceptions. Available since JDK 1.0
4. java.util.ArrayList
   An implementation of array data structure. This class implements List interface and is the most popular member or java collections framework. Difference between ArrayList and Vector is one popular topic among the beginners and frequently asked question in java interviews. It was introduced in JDK 1.2
5. java.util.HashMap
   An implementation of a key-value pair data structure. This class implements Map interface. As similar to ArrayList vs Vector, we have HashMap vs Hashtable popular comparisons. This happens to be a popular collection class that acts as a container for property-value pairs and works as a transport agent between multiple layers of an application. It was introduced in JDK 1.2
6. java.lang.Object
   Great grandfather of all java classes. Every java class is a subclass of Object. It will be used often when we work on a platform/framework. It contains the important methods like equals, hashcode, clone, toString, etc. It is available from day one of java (JDK 1.0)
7. java.lang.Thread
   A thread is a single sequence of execution, where multiple thread can co-exist and share resources. We can extend this Thread class and create our own threads. Using Runnable is also another option. Usage of this class depends on the domain of your application. It is not absolutely necessary to build a usual application. It was available from JDK 1.0
8. java.lang.Class
   Class is a direct subclass of Object. There is no constructor in this class and their objects are loaded in JVM by classloaders. Most of us may not have used it directly but I think its an essential class. It is an important class in doing reflection. It is available from JDK 1.0
9. java.util.Date
   This is used to work with date. Sometimes we feel that this class should have added more utility methods and we end up creating those. Every enterprise application we create has a date utility. Introduced in JDK 1.0 and later made huge changes in JDK1.1 by deprecating a whole lot of methods.
10. java.util.Iterator
    This is an interface. It is very popular and came as a replacement for Enumeration. It is a simple to use convenience utility and works in sync with Iterable. It was introduced in JDK 1.2

 Top 10 Java Debugging Tips with Eclipse

About debugging java applications using Eclipse. Debugging helps us to identify and fix defects in the application. We will focus on run-time issues and not compile time errors. There are command line debuggers like gdb available. In this tutorial we will focus on GUI based debugger and we take our favourite IDE Eclipse to run through the tutorial. Though we say Eclipse, the points are mostly generic and is suitable for debugging using most of the IDEs like NetBeans too.

Before going through this tutorial, I recommend you to have a look at Eclipse shortcuts and it will really help. My Eclipse version is Juno as of writing this tutorial.

• Do not use System.out.println  as a tool to debug.
• Enable detailed log level of all the components involved.
• Use a log analyzer to read logs.

1. Conditional Breakpoint

Hope we know how to add a breakpoint. If not, just click on the left pane (just before the line number) and a breakpoint will be created. In debug perspective, ‘Breakpoints’ view will list the breakpoint created. We can add a boolean condition to it. That is, the breakpoint will be activated and execution will hold only if the boolean condition is met otherwise this breakpoint will be skipped.

2. Exception Breakpoint

In Breakpoints view there is a button labeled as J! We can use that button to add a java exception based breakpoint. For example we want the program to halt and allow to debug when a NullPointerException is thrown we can add a breakpoint using this.

3. Watch Point

This is one nice feature I love. When a chosen attribute is accessed or modified program execution will halt and allow to debug. Select a class variable in Outline view and from its context menu select Toggle Watchpoint. This will create a watch point for that attribute and it will be listed in Breakpoints view.

4. Evaluation (Display or Inspect or Watch)

Ctrl+Shift+d or Ctrl+Shift+i on a selected variable or expression will show the value. We can also add a permanent watch on an expression/variable which will be shown in Expressions view when debug is on.

5. Change Variable Values

We can change the value of a variable on the fly during debug. Choose a variable and go to Variables view and select the value, type and enter.

6. Stop in Main

In Run/Debug Settings, Edit Configuration we can enable a check box that says Stop in main. If enabled when we debug a java program that launches with a main method, the execution halts at first line of main method.

7. Environment Variables

Instead of going to System properties to add an environment variable, we can conveniently add it through Edit Configuration dialog box.

8. Drop to Frame

This is the second best feature I love. We can just return the control to any frame in the call stack during debug. Changes made to variables will not be reset. Choose the stack level which you want to go back and restart debug from there and click the drop to frame button from debug toolbar. Eclipse is cool!

9. Step Filter

When we Step Into (F5) a method we may go into external libraries (like java) and we may not need it. We can add a filter in preferences and exclude packages.

10. Step Into, Over and Return

I kept this as the last point as this is the first thing to learn in debugging :-)

• F5 – Step Into: moves to next step and if the current line has a method call the control will go into the first line of the called method.
• F6 – Step Over: moves the control to next line. If there is a method call in the current line, it executes the method call internally and just moves the control to next line.
• F7 – Step Return: When done from inside a method the control will move to the calling line from where the current method is invoked.
• F8 – Move to next breakpoint.

Java Versions, Features and History

A popular interview question in java is “what is new in Java version X?”. Is that an intelligent question is debatable. I have summarized below important new features added in each major java release till now. I target to highlight important features added in respective release. Apart from below list of features, every release has enhancements and lots of bug fixes.

Java Version SE 8

Java 8 was released on 18 March 2014. The code name culture is dropped with Java 8 and so no official code name going forward from Java 8.

New features in Java SE 8

• Lambda Expressions
• Pipelines and Streams
• Date and Time API
• Default Methods
• Type Annotations
• Nashhorn JavaScript Engine
• Concurrent Accumulators
• Parallel operations
• PermGen Error Removed
• TLS SNI

Java Version SE 7

Code named Dolphin and released on July 28, 2011.

New features in Java SE 7

• Strings in switch Statement
• Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation
• Multiple Exception Handling
• Support for Dynamic Languages
• Try with Resources
• Java nio Package
• Binary Literals, underscore in literals
• Diamond Syntax
• Automatic null Handling

Java Version SE 6

Code named Mustang and released on December 11, 2006.

New features in Java SE 6

• Scripting Language Support
• JDBC 4.0 API
• Java Compiler API
• Pluggable Annotations
• Native PKI, Java GSS, Kerberos and LDAP support.
• Integrated Web Services.
• Lot more enhancements.

J2SE Version 5.0

Code named Tiger and released on September 30, 2004.

New features in J2SE 5.0

• Generics
• Enhanced for Loop
• Autoboxing/Unboxing
• Typesafe Enums
• Varargs
• Static Import
• Metadata (Annotations)
• Instrumentation

J2SE Version 1.4

Code named Merlin and released on February 6, 2002 (first release under JCP).

New features in J2SE 1.4

• XML Processing
• Java Print Service
• Logging API
• Java Web Start
• JDBC 3.0 API
• Assertions
• Preferences API
• Chained Exception
• IPv6 Support
• Regular Expressions
• Image I/O API

J2SE Version 1.3

Code named Kestrel and released on May 8, 2000.

New features in J2SE 1.3

• Java Sound
• Jar Indexing
• A huge list of enhancements in almost all the java area.

J2SE Version 1.2

Code named Playground and released on December 8, 1998.

New features in J2SE 1.2

• Collections framework.
• Java String memory map for constants.
• Just In Time (JIT) compiler.
• Jar Signer for signing Java ARchive (JAR) files.
• Policy Tool for granting access to system resources.
• Java Foundation Classes (JFC) which consists of Swing 1.0, Drag and Drop, and Java 2D class libraries.
• Java Plug-in
• Scrollable result sets, BLOB, CLOB, batch update, user-defined types in JDBC.
• Audio support in Applets.

JDK Version 1.1

Released on February 19, 1997

New features in J2SE 1.1

• JDBC (Java Database Connectivity)
• Inner Classes
• Java Beans
• RMI (Remote Method Invocation)
• Reflection (introspection only)

JDK Version 1.0

Codenamed Oak and released on January 23, 1996.