JavaFX: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Desktop and Web Applications

JavaFX is a set of Java libraries used for building desktop applications and rich internet applications (RIAs). It provides a graphical user interface (GUI) toolkit for creating and managing windows, controls, and visual elements in Java applications.

JavaFX was introduced by Sun Microsystems in 2007 and later acquired by Oracle Corporation. It is designed to replace Swing as the standard GUI library for Java applications.

Some key features of JavaFX include:

'Scene Graph': JavaFX uses a scene graph model for rendering graphics, allowing developers to create complex and interactive user interfaces.
'CSS Styling': JavaFX supports Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for styling and customizing the appearance of UI components.
'2D and 3D Graphics': JavaFX provides built-in support for creating both 2D and 3D graphics, including animations and effects.
'Media Support': JavaFX includes APIs for playing audio and video files, as well as capturing and processing media streams.
'Web Integration': JavaFX can be embedded in web pages using the 'WebView' component, allowing developers to create hybrid desktop-web applications.
'FXML': JavaFX provides a markup language called FXML, which allows developers to define the UI layout and structure using XML-like syntax.

JavaFX is platform-independent and can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. It is included in the Java Development Kit (JDK) starting from JDK 7, and the latest version is JavaFX 16.