Introduction to JVM Languages

By : van der Leun

Buy this Book

Introduction to JVM Languages

By: van der Leun

Buy this Book

Overview of this book

Anyone who knows software development knows about the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine is responsible for interpreting Java byte code and translating it into actions. In the beginning, Java was the only programming language used for the JVM. But increasing complexity of the language and the remarkable performance of the JVM created an opening for a new generation of programming languages. If you want to build a strong foundation with the Java Virtual Machine and get started with popular modern programming languages, then this book is for you. The book will begin with a general introduction of the JVM and its features, which are common to the JVM languages, helping you get abreast with its concepts. It will then dive into explaining languages such as Java, Scala, Clojure, Kotlin, and Groovy and will show how to work with each language, their features, use cases, and pros and cons. By writing example projects in those languages and focusing on each language’s strong points, it will help you find the programming language that is most appropriate for your particular needs. By the end of the book, you will have written multiple programs that run on the Java Virtual Machine and know about the differences between the various languages.

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

Java Virtual Machine

JVM implementations

Why develop on JVM?

Popular use cases

JVM concepts

Java editions

Other languages on JVM

Summary

Developing on the Java Virtual Machine

JDK

Class organization with packages

Java Class Library

Running JVM applications on the command line

Eclipse IDE

Summary

Java

OOP in Java

Writing Java code

Style guide

Quiz

Summary

Java Programming

Configuring Eclipse IDE

Creating a web service in Java

Summary

Scala

Installing Scala

Scala's Read-Eval-Print-Loop shell

Functional versus imperative programming

Scala language syntax and rules

OOP in Scala

Scala's standard library

Functional programming in Scala

Quiz

Summary

Scala Programming

Scala IDE for the Eclipse plugin

SBT

Creating an Akka project

Summary

Clojure

Installing Clojure

Clojure's interactive shell (REPL)

Clojure language

Working with Java classes

Managing states with agents

Style guide

Quiz

Summary

Clojure Programming

The Counterclockwise plugin for Eclipse IDE

Leiningen's build tool

Creating executable programs in Clojure

Creating a new Counterclockwise project

Exploring monads by applying test-driven development

The Luminus web framework

Summary

Kotlin

Installing Kotlin

Kotlin's REPL interactive shell

Kotlin language fundamentals

OOP in Kotlin

Procedural programming in Kotlin

Style guide

Quiz

Summary

Kotlin Programming

Kotlin for the Eclipse IDE plugin

Apache Maven

Creating a JavaFX desktop GUI application

Summary

Groovy

Installing Groovy

Groovy Language

Groovy Development Kit (GDK)

Dynamic and static programming

Quiz

Summary

Groovy Programming

Installing the Groovy Eclipse plugin

Apache Ivy and IvyDE

Creating and configuring the project

Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)

Generating XML using MarkupBuilder

The Vert.x microservice platform

Summary

Other JVM languages

Oracle Nashorn

Jython (Python)

JRuby (Ruby)

Frege (Haskell)

Ceylon

Summary

Quiz Answers

Chapter 3: Java

Chapter 5: Scala

Chapter 7: Clojure

Chapter 9: Kotlin

Chapter 11: Groovy

Customer Reviews

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Configuring Eclipse IDE

When using the default Java Project project type in Eclipse IDE, Eclipse internally generates an XML build script based on Apache's Ant build tool and executes its tasks when the user chooses Eclipse's Compile and Build options. For small projects, this works fine, but for bigger projects, you normally need more control. In this particular case, we want Eclipse to download add-on dependencies. We have chosen the very popular Gradle build tool for this chapter's project.

As Eclipse IDE has no built-in support for Gradle out-of-the-box, we will need to install a plugin that will add this feature to Eclipse IDE. There are different plugins available that aim to do this. We will use the plugin created by the Gradle team in this case. To install it, follow these instructions: