Java project structure explained for newbies?

Question

I come from a .NET background and am completely new to Java and am trying to get my head around the Java project structure.

My typical .NET solution structure conta

Answer 1

Okay so in java you have three different types of access to a classes member functions and variables

public protected package-private and private

All classes in the same package can see each others public, protected, and package-private elements.

Packages are not hierarchical in the system. Usually they are organized in a hierarchical way, but as far as runtime is concerned com.example.widgets is a completely different package from com.example.widgets.cogs

Packages are arranged as directories, which helps keep things organized: your file structure is always similar to your package structure.

They are planning on adding a module system to Java in JDK7 (called Project Jigsaw) and there is an existing module system called OSGi. These module systems will/can give you a lot more flexibility and power then the simple package system.

Also, package names are usually all lower case. :)