Annoying change to Sun’s website
by Kevin Dangoor
I’m in the habit of using Google to look up Java class APIs. Usually, the first couple of links point to a couple of different versions of the javadoc at Sun’s site. If you don’t care about exactly which version of the javadoc you’re looking at, this generally works fine. But, check out this Google Search for JCheckBox. The first link points to the 1.4.1 javadoc which, as of today, points to a page saying that 1.4.1 has been End of Lifed, so no javadoc for you, bucko. This wouldn’t be so bad if Google had the 1.4.2 link as well, but they don’t. It also wouldn’t be so bad if Sun provided a link to the current version of the javadoc, but they don’t. I guess it’s time for me to actually have a local copy of the javadoc around.
For some reason I always find the docs this way:
I memorized, and go to http://java.sun.com/docs/
Click on the link between 1.4.2 and J2SE API labeled “View English”
You’re there.
End of lifed the documentation? Son of a ….
Ahh, but you had to click the 1.4.2 link, click “View English”, and then find the class you’re looking for (which is certainly easy enough with Mozilla’s Type Ahead Find feature). My current way is just to hit Control-L to get to the location bar, type the class name, press down arrow and enter to search on Google. Very quick.
So far, it looks like only 1.4.1 has been End of Lifed. 1.3.x Google links appear to work still.