Newbie: Should I learn the AWT?

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fabiogr - 18 Dec 2003 18:57 GMT

Hello,

I am starting to learn Java again, after a few unsuccessful attempts
(lack of OO thinking) after a few years on embedded C/C++. I saw that
now the guis are built using Swing (that kind of builds on top of the
AWT) - I was wondering if it is still worthy these days to learn the
AWT first and then move up to Swing.

There are lots of free material on the web on the AWT, just wondering
if it is worth it.

Thanks,

Fabio

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Harald Hein - 18 Dec 2003 19:08 GMT

> I was wondering if it is still worthy these days to learn the
> AWT first and then move up to Swing.

No, waste of time. You will pick up the bits of AWT which are used by
Swing when learning Swing.

> There are lots of free material on the web on the AWT, just wondering
> if it is worth it.

And there is a lot of material on the web for Swing.

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Bill Tschumy - 18 Dec 2003 21:27 GMT

>> I was wondering if it is still worthy these days to learn the
>> AWT first and then move up to Swing.
>
> No, waste of time. You will pick up the bits of AWT which are used by
> Swing when learning Swing.

Well, the amount of AWT that is not used by Swing is actually pretty small.
Only the actual onscreen widgets are not used. And learning those is useful
when dealing with the Jxxxx counterparts since most of the methods are the
same. I personally think they are worth reading about. YMMV

>> There are lots of free material on the web on the AWT, just wondering
>> if it is worth it.
>
> And there is a lot of material on the web for Swing.

Signature

Bill Tschumy
Otherwise -- Austin, TX
http://www.otherwise.com

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Roedy Green - 18 Dec 2003 23:45 GMT

>Well, the amount of AWT that is not used by Swing is actually pretty small.
>Only the actual onscreen widgets are not used. And learning those is useful
>when dealing with the Jxxxx counterparts since most of the methods are the
>same. I personally think they are worth reading about.

Thing of AWT as a stripped down Swing. It is easier to learn without
all the eye candy stuff distracting.

--
Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
Coaching, problem solving, economical contract programming.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/jgloss.html for The Java Glossary.

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Andrew Thompson - 18 Dec 2003 19:14 GMT

> Hello,
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> AWT) - I was wondering if it is still worthy these days to learn the
> AWT first and then move up to Swing.

Yes. The AWT encompasses both Layouts and
Events. Further, although a programmers primary
focus may be the latest API, there will often still
be situations where a lighter API is either more
appropriate, or all that is available.

While there are a few 'gotchas' when moving to
Swing, the AWT is well worth learning.

--
Andrew Thompson
* http://www.PhySci.org/ PhySci software suite
* http://www.1point1C.org/ 1.1C - Superluminal!
* http://www.AThompson.info/andrew/ personal site

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Alex Hunsley - 20 Dec 2003 01:52 GMT

> Hello,
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Fabio

I would say just go for learning Swing.
As someone else noted, Swing is built on top of AWT, so it's not a
completely seperate entity anyhow.
alex

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Newbie: Should I learn the AWT?

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