You are required to do your programming in Java. There are a number of resources beyond the basic SDK packages that you may wish to use. They are described below.

Note that in Java we do not have pointers.

Item	Description
Basic SDK	Through Image, has support to load GIF and JPEG images as well as retrieve pixel values and allows you to create new images from data arrays. TIP: Use MediaTracker class to effectively load image handeling events that may occur.
Java Advanced Imaging API	This adds: support for additional image formats including BMP, GIF, FPX, JPEG, PNG, PNM, TIFF More than 80 image processing operations, most of which are native optimized for performance REQUIRES: that you download this additional package and jar up these new classes with any program you create using them
Java Vision Toolkit	Freeware package out of USF that sits on top of Java's Advanced Imaging API and 3D API. Adds support for more advanced imaging and vision algorithms REQUIRES: that you download this additional package and jar up these new classes with any program you create using them
Java 3D API faq manual download	Usefull when writting code that displays items in a 3 dimensional fashion. Sits on top of OpenGL or ActiveX to render. Mention as needed by Java Vision Toolkit above. REQUIRES: that you download this additional package and jar up these new classes with any program you create using them