Standard Libraries


Standard libraries.

Below is a table of the input and output libraries that we use throughout the textbook and beyond.


§ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION / JAVADOC
1.5 StdIn.java read numbers and text from standard input
1.5 StdOut.java write numbers and text to standard output
1.5 StdDraw.java draw geometric shapes in a window
1.5 StdAudio.java create, play, and manipulate sound
1.5 StdAudioStereo.java create, play, and manipulate stereo sound
1.5 StdMidi.java play MIDI notes
2.2 StdRandom.java generate random numbers
2.2 StdStats.java compute statistics
2.2 StdArrayIO.java read and write 1D and 2D arrays
3.1 StdPicture.java process one color image
3.1 Picture.java process color images
3.1 GrayscalePicture.java process grayscale images
3.1 In.java read numbers and text from files and URLs
3.1 Out.java write numbers and text to files
3.1 Draw.java draw geometric shapes
3.1 DrawListener.java support keyboard and mouse events in Draw
3.2 Stopwatch.java measure running time (wall clock)
3.2 StopwatchCPU.java measure running time (CPU)
BinaryStdIn.java read bits from standard input
BinaryStdOut.java write bits to standard output
BinaryIn.java read bits from files and URLs
BinaryOut.java write bits to files



Using the standard libraries.

The file stdlib.jar bundles together all of our standard libraries into one file. To access the libraries, you must add stdlib.jar to your Java classpath. There are many ways to do so (and many opportunities to make mistakes). Here are the two recommended ways: Here are some alternatives:


Standard input and standard output.

StdIn.java and StdOut.java are libraries for reading in numbers and text from standard input and printing out numbers and text to standard output. Our versions have a simpler interface than the corresponding Java ones (and provide a few tecnical improvements). Average.java reads in a sequence of real numbers from standard input and prints their average on standard output.
% java Average
10.0 5.0 6.0 3.0 7.0 32.0
3.14 6.67 17.71
<Ctrl-d>
Average is 10.05777777777778
In.java and Out.java are object-oriented versions that support multiple input and output streams, including reading from a file or URL and writing to a file. Wget.java reads in data from the URL specified on the command line and save it in a file with the same name.
% java Wget "https://introcs.cs.princeton.edu/java/data/codes.csv"
% more codes.csv
United States,USA,00
Alabama,AL,01
Alaska,AK,02
...


Binary standard input and standard output.

BinaryStdIn.java and BinaryStdOut.java are the analogs for binary data. Copy.java reads a binary file from standard input and writes it to standard output.
% java Copy < mandrill.jpg > copy.jpg
% diff mandrill.jpg copy.jpg


Standard drawing.

StdDraw.java is an easy-to-use library for drawing geometric shapes, such as points, lines, and circles. RightTriangle.java draws a right triangle and a circumscribing circle.

  % java RightTriangle
right triangle and circumscribing circle

BouncingBall.java illustrates how to produce an animation using standard drawing.


Draw.java is an object-oriented versions that support drawing in multiple windows.


Standard audio.

StdAudio.java is an easy-to-use library for synthesizing sound. Tone.java reads in a frequency and duration from the command line, and it sonifies a sine wave of the given frequency for the given duration.
% java Tone 440.0 3.0



Image processing.

Picture.java is an easy-to-use library for image processing. Scale.java takes the name of a picture file and two integers (width w and height h) as command-line arguments and scales the image to w-by-h.

% java Scale mandrill.jpg 298 298
298-by-298
% java Scale mandrill.jpg 200 200
200-by-400
% java Scale mandrill.jpg 200 400
200-by-400


Q + A

Q. Can I use your code in my project?

A. Our library stdlib.jar is released under the GNU General Public License, version 3 (GPLv3). If you wish to license the code under different terms, please contact us to discuss.

Q. If I use a named package to structure my code, the compiler can no longer access the libraries in stdlib.jar. Why not?

A. The libraries in stdlib.jar are in the "default" package. In Java, you can't access classes in the default package from a named package. If you need to use our libraries with a named package, you can use algs4.jar.

Warning: if you are taking our Princeton or Coursera course, you must use stdlib.jar to facilitate grading.