The Java 3D API is a hierarchy of JavaTM classes which serve as the interface to a sophisticated three-dimensional graphics and sound rendering system. Java 3D provides high-level constructs to create and manipulate 3D geometry, and to build the structures used to render that geometry. Using this API, developers can efficiently create precise virtual universes in a wide variety of sizes, from astronomical to subatomic.

This trail tells you how to create graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for applications and applets, using the Swing components.

Getting Started with Swing is a quick start lesson. First it gives you a bit of background about the JFC and Swing. Then it tells you how to compile and run programs that use Swing components.

Learning Swing with the NetBeans IDE is the fastest and easiest way to begin working with Swing. This lesson explores the NetBeans IDE's GUI builder, a powerful feature that lets you visually construct your Graphical User Interfaces.

The authors are:

• Stephen C. Drye, co-author of Java Foundation Classes: Swing Reference.
• William Wake, co-author of Java Foundation Classes: Swing Reference and original maintainer.

Steve Gutz, author of Up to Speed with Swing also provided contributions
to the original document.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Marjan Bace of Manning Publications for his encouragement
in developing this document. Some information in this FAQ is from Java Foundation
Classes: Swing Reference.

Graphical user interfaces can be developed in different ways. This paper discusses several specific frameworks utilizing the Java Foundation Classes, or Swing. While most of the paper is targeted towards UI developers, there are features such as the Session which have general applications. The goals in using common frameworks and methodologies include being able to quickly understand code written by others and being able to reuse code easily; both reduce maintenance burdens.