Best API for simple 2d graphics with Java

Question

I'm not sure what the best api for simple 2d graphics with Java is. I know java.awt.Graphics2D was the standard but has it been replaced? Swing is the new api for java GUI apps but it seems a bit heavy for what I want. What I really want is something like the C SDL(http://libsdl.org/) library.

Answer 1

Java 2D (Graphics2D and friends) is indeed the best choice that I know of. Swing is actually implemented on top of Java 2D, so yes, if you want non-GUI-type graphics, Java 2D is the way to go.

Answer 2

A Java binding to SDL can be found here:

http://sdljava.sourceforge.net/

Answer 3

The best api i've seen is slick http://slick.cokeandcode.com/

Answer 4

If you want to have the least work possible if you're building a game (or even if not) use http://slick.cokeandcode.com/

Answer 5

Processing.org has some good easy-to-use 2D stuff (and 3D). It has a PApplet class that implements Applet from AWT together with a bunch of useful operations and works well together with Java2D.

If you just want to mess around with 2d graphics it has a "sketchpad IDE" where you don't need to put it in your java IDE if you just want to experiment with it.