Get creative with <em>Wicked Cool Java</em>

Peek inside a Java book that presents 101 exciting and cool code bits, open source projects, and project ideas

By Jeff Friesen, JavaWorld.com, 03/20/06

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JFugue to easily introduce music based on MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) into your applications
JMusic to create your own MIDI instruments
FreeTTS to make your programs talk back to you
Javolution to minimize execution delays introduced by the garbage collector thread (which is important in real-time scenarios)
Java's own CyclicBarrier class to force a specific number of threads to wait at a common barrier point until the final thread arrives at that point—then all threads can proceed

The final chapter examines miscellaneous open source projects and core Java features, and presents ideas for creating your own projects and integrating code from previous chapters into these projects. You will enjoy the discussion of Lego Mindstorms and the LEJOS open source firmware for controlling the RCX computer for your robots, playing with the Abstract Window Toolkit's Robot class for automating program execution, and working with the open source JCalendar and JDateChooser classes for conveniently selecting dates from a calendar. And, if you are looking for your own open source project to create, you will find some intriguing ideas, including a robotic brain and an annotation management tool.

In less than 250 pages, Wicked Cool Java shares a wealth of useful information about interesting Java APIs and available open source projects. You will think up all kinds of ideas (such as using FreeTTS to have your software explain its uses and benefits to your boss or customers) as you read this book. And, when you finish reading, you will definitely want to check out the book's companion Website (see Resources), where you can find links to the open source projects, errata, the complete code to the various code bits peppered throughout the book, and more.

An interview with Brian D. Eubanks

Brian D. Eubanks is a consultant, speaker, trainer, and author who specializes in Internet technologies. Brian is also the founder of Eu Technologies, Inc. I recently interviewed Brian about his Wicked Cool Java book.

Jeff Friesen: What motivated you to write Wicked Cool Java, and what is this book about?

Brian Eubanks: I've always enjoyed learning and experimenting with new technologies, and discussing interesting ideas with other people. I think Java is a cool language, and there is so much that you can do using the many open source projects that are available. Some Java programmers are only familiar with the core API, and I wanted to show that there is much more out there. The book attempts to answer the question, "What can I do in Java that is fun or interesting or useful?"

JF: What is your favorite part of Wicked Cool Java? Is there anything in the book that you would like to have done differently?

BE: I particularly enjoyed working with the scientific and mathematical APIs. There are so many of them, and I had a difficult time deciding which ones to highlight in the book. In some cases, I got heavily into learning an API and then discovered a better one to do the same thing. That was frustrating. I also got lost in the research, because it was way too much fun discovering new projects.