It's very much a learning tool, and it's purposefully less helpful than a full IDE like Eclipse or NetBeans. You don't have to rely on indentation to see that a Java method falls within a specific class because you can see the blocks of code.īlueJ isn't an all-purpose IDE. By using colored backgrounds, BlueJ helps you visualize the structure of the code you're writing. It can be nearly impossible to tell a variable apart from a keyword that's a part of the language, and even with the assistance of indentation and braces and semicolons, it all starts to blur together.īlueJ is designed to clear away this confusion. It doesn't help that when you're learning to program, most of the code you type looks and feels basically the same: it's all vaguely meaningful, yet oddly similar, with words that seem to make as much sense whether you read them backward or forward. If you're new to programming-or just new to Java, it can be difficult to understand advanced concepts like variable scoping and loops and conditionals. It uses a subdued color scheme to keep different code elements separate from one another, so it's easy to tell a class from a method or a comment. When you create a new class, BlueJ generates a clean but robust template with hints toward what you need to do. As you build a project, you see a "mind map" or flowchart of how your Java files fit together. BlueJ templatesīlueJ's interface is clean and simple, with just four items in its main menu bar. The University of Kent is sensitive to this beginner-level struggle, so it develops and maintains BlueJ, an open source integrated development environment (IDE) for Java learners. For instance, a Java class often looks something like this: import java.io.Foo Other times, the introductory text is more complex. For example, a shell script opens with a simple "shebang": #!/bin/sh
In practice, though, boilerplate text is too obscure in meaning to become an easy habit, but it's essential for a program to run. Before you can get comfortable starting a project, you have to remember the preambles that, in theory, ought to be easy to remember since they're usually relatively short and repetitive. Whenever you're learning a new programming language, it's easy to criticize all the boilerplate text you need to memorize.
0 kommentar(er)
