Java Pocket Guide

Chapter 9. Java Platform, SE

The Java Platform, Standard Edition includes the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and its encompassing Java Development Kit (JDK) (see Chapter 10), the Java Programming Language, Java Virtual Machines (JVMs), tools/utilities, and the Java SE API libraries; see Figure 9-1.

Figure 9-1. Java Platform, SE

Common Java SE API Libraries

Java SE API 6 standard libraries are provided within packages of which there are more than 200 available. Each package is made up of classes and/or interfaces. An abbreviated list of commonly used packages is represented here.

Language and Utility Libraries

java.lang

Language support; system/math methods, fundamental types, strings, threads, and exceptions

java.lang.annotation

Annotation framework; metadata library support

java.lang.instrument

Program instrumentation; agent services to instrument JVM programs

java.lang.management

Java Management Extensions API; JVM monitoring and management

java.lang.ref

Reference-object classes; interaction support with the GC

java.lang.reflect

Reflective information about classes and objects

java.util

Utilities; collections, event model, date/time, and international support

java.util.concurrent

Concurrency utilities; executors, queues, timing, and synchronizers

java.util.concurrent.atomic

Atomic toolkit; lock-free thread-safe programming on single variables

java.util.concurrent.locks

Locking framework; ...