BlueJ running on Mac OS X

 is an interactive Java development environment, developed mainly for educational purposes, but also suitable for small-scale development. 

BlueJ was developed to support the learning and teaching of object-oriented programming, and its design differs from other development environments as a result. The main screen graphically shows the class structure of an application under development (in a UML-like diagram), and objects can be interactively created and tested. This interaction facility, combined with a clean, simple user interface, allows easy experimentation with objects under development. Object-oriented concepts (classes, objects, communication through method calls) are represented visually and in its interaction design in the interface. Download high resolution version (942x566, 100 KB) This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Download high resolution version (942x566, 100 KB) This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Java is an object-oriented applications programming language developed by Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s. ... Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm that uses objects to design applications and computer programs. ... In object-oriented programming, a class is a programming language construct that is used to group related instance variables and methods. ... In strictly mathematical branches of computer science the term object is used in a purely mathematical sense to refer to any thing. While this interpretation is useful in the discussion of abstract theory, it is not concrete enough to serve as a primitive datatype in the discussion of more concrete... Used mainly in object-oriented programming, the term method refers to a piece of code that is exclusively associated either with a class (called class methods, static methods, or factory methods) or with an object (called instance methods). ...

The visual interaction features of BlueJ were designed to allow one to delay the introduction of certain programming concepts considered difficult or problematic by educators. These include:

• Syntax such as public static void main(String [] args) - which requires unnecessarily introducing the keywords public and static, as well as method arguments and arrays. BlueJ allows arbitrary classes to be instantiated and arbitrary methods to be invoked interactively.
• Program input/output. In BlueJ both the parameter values for and the return values from method calls can be entered/inspected directly, so there is no need for students to deal with terminal I/O or write graphical user interfaces when they are still struggling with the basic concepts of programming.
• Object orientation - the concepts of classes and objects are presented in a visual manner. Both have distinct visual representations, and it is easy to demonstrate that code is associated directly with a class, that an object has a class type, and that the class type of an object directly determines its available methods and fields as well as its behavior.

The program is a fully functional development tool, commonly used by schools, universities, and other low-budget groups. Curly brace or bracket programming languages are those which use balanced brackets ({ and }) in their syntax or formal grammar, mainly due to being C-influenced. ... Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a computer programming paradigm in which a software system is modeled as a set of objects that interact with each other. ... In object-oriented programming, a class is a programming language construct that is used to group related instance variables and methods. ... In strictly mathematical branches of computer science the term object is used in a purely mathematical sense to refer to any thing. While this interpretation is useful in the discussion of abstract theory, it is not concrete enough to serve as a primitive datatype in the discussion of more concrete...

History

The development of BlueJ was started in 1999 by Michael Kölling and John Rosenberg at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, as a successor to the Blue system. Blue was an integrated system with its own programming language and environment. BlueJ implements the Blue environment design for the Java Programming Language. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Michael Kölling Ph. ... Menzies Building at the Clayton Campus Monash University is Australias largest university with about 55,000 students. ... Melbournes CBD has grown to straddle the Yarra River in three major precincts. ... Blue is a free system for teaching object-oriented programming, developed in Monash University. ... Blue is a free system for teaching object-oriented programming, developed in Monash University. ... Blue is a free system for teaching object-oriented programming, developed in Monash University. ...

BlueJ is currently being maintained by a joint team at the University of Kent at Canterbury, England - where Kölling now lectures, and Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. The University of Kent is a plate glass campus university in Kent, England. ... Deakin University is a large Australian public university with around 32,000 students studying Bachelor, Masters, Doctoral and Professional programs as of 2004. ...

Current Release

As of April 2006, the latest release is BlueJ version 2.1.3. This release fixes a few minor bugs from previous releases. [1] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

BlueJ is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and any other operating system where a recent JVM can be found. Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of proprietary software operating systems by Microsoft. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system family. ... A Java virtual machine or JVM is a virtual machine that runs Java byte code. ...

A version of NetBeans called NetBeans BlueJ Edition is now available. NetBeans refers to both a platform for the development of Java desktop applications, and an integrated development environment (IDE) developed using the NetBeans Platform. ... NetBeans BlueJ Edition is an integrated development environment (IDE) meant to transition students from the introductory IDE BlueJ to the more professional IDE NetBeans. ...

A book, Objects First with Java - a Practical Introduction Using BlueJ written by David J. Barnes and Michael Kölling, is also available. Michael Kölling Ph. ...

External links

• Official website
• NetBeans BlueJ Edition