Help Me to Help Myself

> I'm totally new. I was wondering about the api

> documentation. I see that although it's enormous, it

> is still light on details. What can one do to find

> out about a class or method if he doesn't follow the

> api docs? Is there anything else? Thank you.

Hello and welcome to java. The Java community is huge to say the least. With perseverance and Google, you'll find an over-abundance of information available to you. Probably your best bet now is the combination of a good basic Java book and the Sun Java tutorials. You can find the latter here:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html

Good luck and good coding!

/Pete

petes1234a at 2007-7-12 20:39:34 >

" . . . if he doesn't follow the api docs?"

I'm not sure of the wisdom of ignoring the API docs.

To paraphrase an analogy once made here:

"It would be like trying to learn about Christianity without reading the Bible."

" . . . it is still light on details."

Light?

Everything is there except for the actual implementation code of the methods.

And you can find those somewhere in the JDK directory structure.

Look for a directory called "source" or "src".

LazarusLonga at 2007-7-12 20:39:34 >

Hi,

By "I was afraid you'd say that." I mean there is no safety net, no backup, just a search and a hope that google will find something and if it doesn't, tough doo doo. Also, I want to reiterate that the documentation is VERY SKETCHY. LazarusLong Where have you been? Have you read it? It is FAR from COMPLETE and I'm sure there is more said about the API offline at Sun. Finally, by "not follow" the docs, of course, I mean not understand. I don't mean ignore. I really think that size is the limiting factor as to why the API isn't more detailed but again I give thanks for the advice and I put a link on my desktop

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html

to get to the tutorials.

Chris

JavaBUZZa at 2007-7-12 20:39:34 >