Peter,
I was a cobol programmer in a former life and have been having some trouble teaching myself java. In fact, I'm working on a project where even my co-workers don't know any java and can't be used as resources. Therefore, I'm always looking for "THE" book which will clear up whatever it is that I'm not understanding. One of the things which really helps, is a good example. So, I went to
http://afu.com/jj6/ and copied your clock example. I compiled it on my AS/400 and have a couple of small errors. It is hard for noobes to know where to start to fix problems - even small ones, when there are so many unknowns. Does your book help the real beginner to find answers to problems?
ps: I encountered 2 errors when I compiled your code:
Clock.java:51: class clock4 is public, should be declared in a file named clock4.java
and
Clock.java:26: cannot resolve symbol
symbol : variable EXIT_ON_CLOSE
location: interface javax.swing.WindowConstants
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
I've done enough to know that I needed to re-name the program. That fixed that.
The other is less clear to me, I believe I have to find the javax.swing stuff and put it in my class path. I'll work on that. My classpath was set up long ago, and I'm not sure if I remember right, how to add to it on the IBM iSeries AS/400 I'm using. I'll research that.
Any way, sorry for the long discourse. Still, a good beginner book has good examples and good help for when those examples don't work. Does your book have those?