Overview of Java APIs
There are three types of Java Programming Language Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) :
- the official core Java API, contained in the JDK or JRE, of one of the editions of the Java Platform. The three editions of the Java Platform are Java ME (Mobile edition), Java SE (Standard edition), and Java EE (Enterprise edition).
- optional official APIs that can be downloaded separately. The specification of these APIs are defined according to a Java Specification Request (JSR), and sometimes some of these APIs are later included in the core APIs of the platform (the most notable example of this kind is Swing).
- unofficial APIs, developed by third parties, but not related to any JSRs.
Third-parties can freely implement any JSR specifications for an official API (even for the core API of the language), providing that they conform to the Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) for this JSR (the TCK is a suite of tests that checks conformance of implementations for a JSR). The result of this freedom is that many official APIs have more implementations than the Sun’s Reference implementation (RI).
This site contains Javadocs for official core Java API created by SUN. Some optional APIs created in common by Apache Foundation and some third party API created By Google and many other Java contributors. Number of available javadocs grows persistently.