Useful Third-Party Java Libraries

Over the coming months, I'll be adding links to this page pointing to pages that describe useful (and fun) third-party libraries for Java. Initially, my choices will be based on the ones I've used while setting programming assignments in the "Discrete Maths" and "Algorithms" courses that I teach.

Each page will contain several complete Java programs that illustrate how the library can be used, along with a local copy of the libraries, and batch files for easily compiling and executing the programs. There will also be links to the website for the library, which will point to its API documentation, tutorials, and the current versions of the libraries.

I'm using batch files to compile and execute the examples because there's no need for anything more complicated. Also, it's quite easy to translate batch code into shell scripts.

The local copies of the libraries will be stored as JAR files, and will include all the dependencies necessary to get the examples to compile and run. If a library's website doesn't include JARs, then a great resource is JAR Download.

Libraries (last updated Dec. 20th, 2022):

• Apfloat: an arbitrary precision arithmetic library that improves on Java's BigInteger and BigDecimal.
   
  
• Apache Commons CSV: for reading and writing various styles of CSV files.
   
  
• Apache Commons Collections: additional map, list, set and other data structures, and related utilities.
   
  
• Java binding of Hunspell: a fast, extendable spell-checker. I've used it here for solving word puzzles (e.g. word ladders, grids, wheels, and anagrams).
   
  
• ImageJ: a graphics application and API with an emphasis on scientific imaging.
   
  
• Jacop: a constraint solver, and a great way to solve logic puzzles.
   
  
• Java Embedded Python (JEP): a great way to allow Java to use Python and its third-party modules.
   
  
• JFreeChart: a charting library. For something easier to use, see "Simple Java Plot" below.
   
  
• JGraphT: graph theory data structures and algorithms.
   
  
• jSpace: tuple spaces for parallel and distributed programming.
   
  
• JTS: 2D computational geometry.
   
  
• Jzy3d: a 3D scientific charting library.
   
  
• lanterna: a library for writing text-only GUIs, in the style of ncurses.
   
  
• libGDX: a gaming library, but my focus is on using it to write applets.
   
  
• News API: a REST API for searching and retrieving news articles from multiple sources on the Web.
   
  
• Number theory: several libraries that I've used for teaching number theory, including Apache Commons Numbers, java-math-library, and Big-Math.
   
  
• Picocli: for parsing command line options and parameters.
   
  
• Apache POI: for manipulating Microsoft files.
   
  
• Simple Java Plot: a simple, but very useful, plotting library, that's a lot easier to learn than JFreeChart.
   
  
• SQLite and JDBC: how to use SQLite from Java.
   
  
• StdDraw: a versatile but simple 2D drawing library.
   
  
• Apache Velocity: a template engine that can easily generate a wide range of text formats, including XML, JSON, HTML, and Java code.
   
  
• zt-exec: a library for running external commands/programs from Java. My examples use Pandoc, SystemInfo, Powershell, netstat, Gnuplot, and GraphViz.
   
  
• More libraries to come ...