What is the difference between JARs and packages?

Question

Is there any difference between a JAR file and a package?

Answer 1

In brief, a JAR file is a physical file, structured much like a zip file, that contains files used by your program at execution time. A jar will typically include .class files, the executable versions of your classes, and other resources like icons, pictures, language-specific properties files, etc. The Java Tutorial describes jars, and how to create/manage them. (http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/jar/index.html)

Packages are defined like this in the Java Tutorial trail on interfaces and packages: "A collection of related classes and interfaces providing access protection and namespace management." (http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutor...va/interpack/). While accurate, I don't find that this definition, by itself, really gives you a good sense of what a package is. For more information, go to the cited page and read within that section of the tutorial.