Java alone, however, is simply a powerful programming language. It requires the imagination and effort of creative programmers and software designers to find innovative ways to create value from this new computing paradigm.
Network computing and object oriented software share a common philosophical foundation: people are far more productive when they can collaborate effectively. Object oriented software facilitates collaboration with re-usable software components that are easy to understand, robust enough for general-purpose use, and easily extended to specific uses. A computer network provides an infrastructure for sharing software components efficiently, so that any finished product can be a collaboration of work from many talented individuals.
It is in this same vein that Visual Engineering
created KavaChart. KavaChart provides graphing and charting functionality
useful to almost any kind of program. Visual Engineering has been doing
graphics and charting software since 1983, and consequently, we are in
a unique position to create robust, efficient, and re-usable components.
We are able to share these components with you for a tiny fraction of the
cost of developing your own software. Reusable software has become a productive
reality.
A set of appendices gives general information about how to do things like compile KavaChart programs, how to deploy classes on a web server, and how to set chart properties for the standard applets. Since some of this information varies, depending on your target development and deployment environment, we recommended that you first become familiar with using the Java language in your environment to get the most out of this document.
If you prefer to absorb "the big picture" before jumping into product details, you might prefer to read through the illustrated chapter links at the top and bottom of this page.
Experienced Java developers might want to start with the Application Cookbook for a highly caffeinated tour through KavaChart, and then look at the applications, servlets, and applets in KavaChart's "contrib", "standalone", and "beans" directories to see direct examples of subclassing and advanced features. The API documentation is an invaluable resource to help you understand how this code works. We've also provided high level source code within KavaChart's "chart" package to demonstrate how to assemble charting components using our predefined templates. Experienced developers interested in building custom charts might want to examine these java files in the "chart" directory.