Why do Java source files go into a directory structure?
- by bdhar
Suppose that I am creating a Java project with the following classes
com.bharani.ClassOne
com.bharani.ClassTwo
com.bharani.helper.HelperOne
com.bharani.helper.support.HelperTwo
with files put immediately under the folder 'src'
src/ClassOne.java
src/ClassTwo.java
src/HelperOne.java
src/HelperTwo.java
and compile them using the command
$ javac src/*.java -d classes (assuming that classes directory exists)
The compiler compiles these files and put the class files in appropriate sub-directories inside the 'classes' directory like this
classes/com/bharani/ClassOne.class
classes/com/bharani/ClassTwo.class
classes/com/bharani/helper/HelperOne.class
classes/com/bharani/helper/support/HelperTwo.class
Because the spec mandates that the classes should go inside appropriate directory structure. Fine.
My question is this: When I use an IDE such as Eclipse or NetBeans, they create the directory structure for the source code directory ('src' directory here) also. Why is that? Is it mandatory? Or, is it just a convention?
Thanks.