Session G2: Java's Abstract Windowing Toolkit

In this laboratory session, you will begin investigations of Java's Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT), a collection of classes that support the creation of graphical user interfaces (GUIs), programs that interact with the user primarily through graphical components, such as windows, buttons, and fields. The goals of this laboratory are to

• introduce graphical user interfaces (GUIs);
• show how Java's abstract windowing toolkit can be used for creating simple interfaces; and
• investigate event-driven programming, the model of program control typically used by GUI programs.

Your instructor will tell you which of the proposed experiments you are to perform.

Prerequisite skills:

• Objects and classes in Java
• Applets and graphics (optional)
• Inheritance and interfaces

Note that many of these skills are optional if you are willing to accept ``I'm not sure what this means, but I can just copy it'' rather than a deeper understanding. At some point, you'll need to develop the deeper understanding in any case; however, you may find it best to delay such understanding until later.

Required files:

• HelloGUI.java
• HelpfulHelloGUI.java
• HelpListener.java
• ModularHelloGUI.java
• NewHelloGUI.java
• QuitListener.java