How Java is Organized?

By: Emiley J.

Java has changed tremendously and included more features over the years. The first basic version of Java comprised of just six packages. A package is a collection of Java classes. Sun grouped six different packages with classes doing specific jobs. For example the 'java.io' package consists of all classes that do input output such as reading files, writing to files etc. where as the 'java.net' package consists of classes that do networking such as making a HTTP connection etc..

But in recent years Java included support for many new features and the basic organization of Java can be grouped into three different editions.

J2EE is the Enterprise Edition of Java which caters to the Enterprise programming which uses technologies such as EJB (Enterprise Java Beans) and support for multi-tier programming
J2SE is the Standard Edition of Java which supports servlets and Jsps to develop web applications, client server applications and applets.
J2ME is the Micro Edition of Java targeted towards all smaller devices such as mobile phones, set-top boxes etc.

Choosing the right edition for development depends on the type of project at hand. For example,

If you need to use Enterprise Java Beans and build an enterprise level application with multiple tiers where you would like to separate the business logic from the interface design then the edition to use is J2EE.
If you need to develop a web based application which uses servlets and JSPs to query database and a browser interface with applets then probably you would choose J2SE.
If you have a project where you need to use a 'Java enabled' mobile phone to send and receive data to a web server you will need to use J2ME for the client application with J2SE at the server side

If you are still not sure of the architecture of Java and which edition to choose, or how Java is organized check our links & resources page for more information.