Introduction

Welcome to JavaFX: A Beginner’s Guide. This book has been designed to give you the best first step into the exciting new frontier of JavaFX development. JavaFX is a rich environment tool, and learning JavaFX is a must for anyone who wants to create immersive, interactive environments for users of any background.

This book takes you through JavaFX in a logical manner. It begins by explaining the technology behind JavaFX. You will quickly move into installing the JavaFX development environment and tools. Although multiple development environments are available for JavaFX, the focus of this book is on teaching you the basics of NetBeans. NetBeans offers a rich, full-featured product that is easy to learn and will get you up and running in JavaFX in no time.

Most chapters also include a “Try This” section to help you practice what you have learned. The “Try This” sections are structured like a textbook in that you will be presented with tasks to complete on your own. In addition, each chapter has a “Self Test” section that provides ten quiz-style questions to further enhance your learning experience. Taking full advantage of the chapter questions and “Try This” exercises will give you a chance to refine your newly acquired skills and create your own applications.

Although this book is not an advanced programmer’s reference, you should possess certain skills to get the most from JavaFX: A Beginner’s Guide. Foremost of these is Java programming fundamentals. Knowledge of Java classes and basic types will help you understand some of the concepts in this book more easily. Although JavaFX environments are written primarily in JavaFX Script, you can enhance the functionality of these environments using Java.

Any comments, questions, or suggestions about any of the material in this book can be sent directly to the author at [email protected].