Hello World in the Forte IDE

An introduction to the Forte IDE (integrated development environment)

writing the classic “Hello World” program in Java

Create a folder for your projects

• One way is to use Windows Explorer (WE)

• On the left-hand-side of WE, click on the location where the folder is to be created

• On the right-hand-side of WE, right click in the open area and choose from the menu New and then Folder

Create a New Folder

Rename the FolderRight click on the Folder and choose Rename, then type the name, press ENTER

Start Forte:Start/Programs/Forte for Java CE/ Forte for Java CE

Start Forte (Alternative):Double click on the runidew icon found in forte4j/bin

Close Tip Window(if it appears)

Forte at Startup

Explorer window

Properties window

Main window: menus and toolbars

Desktop showing through

Filesystems, see next slide

Right click on Filesystems (circled on previous slide) in the Explorer Window

Choose Mount Directory from the menu

The Mount Directory Dialog Box

Use the Mount Directory “Look in” drop-down box to choose a drive and the region below to select a folder

Alternative: Choose File then Mount Filesystem on the Main Window menu to bring up the dialog box shown below

Type the folder’s path or “Browse” for it , then click OK

To remove any previous Filesystem, right click on it and choose Unmount Filesystem

Java Packages

• In order to facilitate “portability” (moving a program from computer to computer), Java breaks references to a file’s (complete/full) path (its location) into two parts – An external part (known as the CLASSPATH) which

will change as the program is moved around (mounted)

– An internal part which will not change as the program is moved around (package.class)

• The dividing line is a folder known as “a package”

To create a package for your project, right click on the particular filesystem and choose New Package

Name the packageNOTE: Java’s convention is that only class names are capitalized, Java is case sensitive: hello Hello

small letter

Make your package part of current project (click Yes)

Right click on package folder, select New/Classes/Main

This template (Main) has a method (main) needed to start execution

Name your class;Java convention is that class name are capitalized

Capital letter

Finish

• For the simple Hello World project in this example, one might as well click Finish at this stage

• However, we will step through a series of dialog boxes that may prove useful when writing future projects

Dialog Box #1

Click Next

Dialog Box #2

Dialog box #3

Most classes have fields (or properties) and we could begin to list them here

Dialog box #4

Classes also have methods which could be added here

Make class part of current project

The Source Editor Window appears.This is where we will type the code.Some code is already provided.

Source editor

comments

package

Beginning of class

Some features

• Comment: anything between /* and */ is a comment — they are ignored by the computer and are there for the sake of the programmer or anyone else reading the code

• The Hello class begins with the line

public class Hello extends Object– public, class and extends are keywords or reserved

words, which is why they are in a different color

Hello World

• For this simple program, we will add just one line to what was supplied by the IDE

• That line is System.out.println(“Hello World.”);

• It belongs inside the curly brackets associated with the main method

• Curly brackets {} set off a unit of coding known as a block

The main method

the main method

Constructor, not needed for this program

Indenting scheme convention

• Free-formatting: white space (spaces, tabs, returns) are usually ignored by the computer when interpreting Java

• To make the program more readable (not to the computer but to the human beings), certain conventions are followed

• One convention is to place the curly brackets on a line by themselves and have them vertically aligned (indented the same amount) and then anything within the curly brackets is indented further

Start typing the lineAfter typing the period, notice the pop-up menus

Java is case-sensitive

• Java is case-sensitive• In the one line, System (a class) must be

capitalized, out (an object) must not be capitalized• The pop-up menus provide the properties and

methods associated with a class or object • If they do not pop up, it is a good indication that

there is a typo

Hello World Program

Right click on Hello (the class not the package) and choose Compile

The Output Window appears if there are errors; In this case there is a missing semicolon

Error reported on line 28 although line with missing semicolon is line 27 (free –formatting)

Edit (add semicolon), Compile again, then Execute: Right click on class and choose Execute

Output Window

Execution Shortcut

Build and Compile Shortcuts

Windows Explorer