For the most accurate and up-to-date tutorials, please access the latest version from Oracle's official website for the Java SE Tutorials (Last Updated 7/7/2010), which can be found at: https://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17409_01/javase/tutorial.

The Java Tutorials primarily describe features in Java SE 6. For best results, download JDK 6.

Please check out the Java Tutorials Community Portal, the place to discuss the tutorials, and to share your modifications and additions to the tutorials.

What's New

As part of the Oracle Author Podcast Series, a podcast on the Java Tutorials has just been released. You can hear the 10-minute podcast through the Oracle Author Podcasts website.

Enjoy quizzes? Take a minute to answer this quiz about Java applets.

The Java Tutorials are continuously updated to keep up with changes to the Java Platform and to incorporate feedback from our readers. The most recent update represents the first release under its new home at download.oracle.com. Redirects are in place, so any attempt to access the tutorials at java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial will be redirected to the new location. We hope this will be a seamless transition for our many tutorial readers, but please let us know if you encounter any problems.

Also included in the most recent release:

• Customizing the Loading Experience explains how to provide a customized loading progress indicator for a rich Internet application, a feature first introduced in the JDK 6 Update 18 release and enhanced in the Java SE 6 Update 21 release.
• A new trail introducing Java API for XML Processing (JAXP) 1.4 technology. (This was previously released on java.sun.com/webservices/references.)

Trails Covering the Basics

• Getting Started — An introduction to Java technology and lessons on installing Java development software and using it to create a simple program.
• Learning the Java Language — Lessons describing the essential concepts and features of the Java Programming Language.
• Essential Java Classes — Lessons on exceptions, basic input/output, concurrency, regular expressions, and the platform environment.
• Collections — Lessons on using and extending the Java Collections Framework.
• Swing — An introduction to the Swing GUI toolkit, with an overview of features and a visual catalog of components. See below for a more comprehensive tutorial on Swing.
• Deployment — How to package applications and applets using JAR files, and deploy them using Java Web Start and Java Plug-in.
• Preparation for Java Programming Language Certification — List of available training and tutorial resources.

Creating Graphical User Interfaces

• Creating a GUI with Swing — A comprehensive introduction to GUI creation on the Java platform.

Specialized Trails and Lessons

• Custom Networking — An introduction to the Java platform's powerful networking features.
• The Extension Mechanism — How to make custom APIs available to all applications running on the Java platform.
• Full-Screen Exclusive Mode API — How to write applications that more fully utilize the user's graphics hardware.
• Generics — An enhancement to the type system that supports operations on objects of various types while providing compile-time type safety. Note that this lesson is for advanced users. The Java Language trail contains a Generics lesson that is suitable for beginners.
• Internationalization — An introduction to designing software so that it can be easily be adapted (localized) to various languages and regions.
• JavaBeans — The Java platform's component technology.
• JDBC Database Access — Introduces an API for connectivity between the Java applications and a wide range of databases and a data sources.
• JMX— Java Management Extensions provides a standard way of managing resources such as applications, devices, and services.
• JNDI— Java Naming and Directory Interface enables accessing the Naming and Directory Service such as DNS and LDAP.
• JAXP — Introduces the Java API for XML Processing (JAXP) 1.4 technology.
• RMI — The Remote Method Invocation API allows an object to invoke methods of an object running on another Java Virtual Machine.
• Reflection — An API that represents ("reflects") the classes, interfaces, and objects in the current Java Virtual Machine.
• Security — Java platform features that help protect applications from malicious software.
• Sound — An API for playing sound data from applications.
• 2D Graphics — How to display and print 2D graphics in applications.
• Sockets Direct Protocol — How to enable the Sockets Direct Protocol to take advantage of InfiniBand.