Dave's Java Gifts

Last modified March 22,1998.

I get a lot of benefit from all the free software available on the web, so it's entirely appropriate that I give something back. Since I'm primarily a programmer, my gifts are mostly tools that I developed to make my life easier.

They're also examples of "how Java should be done", as seen by an old Lisp hand.

You're welcome to use or modify these classes in any way you like; but I would appreciate it if you drop me a line with any suggestions, improvements, bug reports and so on.

Package: dlib release 1.5

release 1.5 is minimally changed from previous released, but is not fully java-1.1 compliant; all uses of depricated APIs have been removed. THe only documentable changes are that the old "PrintStream" classes have been renamed to "PrintWriter" in keeping with the new naming conventions.

The JavaDoc (as html you can read now)

The JavaDoc as a zip archive
The Classes as a Jar archive
The Sources

And for for those of you who are even more tardy moving to JDK-1.1 than I was (or who need to develop applets for JDK-1.02)

The old JavaDoc as a zip archive
The old JDK-1.02 Classes
The old JDK-1.02 Sources

Dlib contains one class, ConsoleWindow that I think is a Big Thing. It implements a shell-like window that can be used as a replacement for input and output to System.in and System.out.

If you are using a Java-enabled browser, you can try out the console window class.

Directions for use

Unpack the directory "dlib" into your classpath, such that your classpath will point to the parent directory of dlib, or simply add dlib.zip to your class path. For example, unpack as /java/lib/dlib/ and set classpath to /java/lib/classes.zip;/java/lib/

Latest new classes

G which contains static method Assert.
Deferred_Printstream (or Deferred_PrintWriter in jjd-1.1)is derived from PrintStream. If you print to it, it creates a ConsoleWindow first. Deferred_PrintStream is intended as a low-overhead replacement for System.out, to be used in brain damaged environments such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, where output normally vanished into oblivion.
LList is a simple linked list class
Queue is a queue class, using the same method interface as "Stack"
Class_Preloader is a simple interface for web applets to preload classes they will eventually requre. Easy to use, just create a "Class_Preloader with a list of the classes to be loaded. The catch is, that netscape 3.0 macintosh (and who knows, maybe others) tends to crash if you preload classes this way.

Keeping up to date

If you found this page useful, you can use the free URL MINDER service to automatically notify you when this page (or any page on the web!) is updated. Very handy - saves all that boring checking in, only to discover that nothing is new.

comments/suggestions to: ddyer@real-me.net