Question 1.

How do you communicate over the internet using java, eg. Client - Server design. (as in VB you would probably use Winsock Control, but as Java is platform independant is their a class libarary or something that does it?)

Question 2.

Taking the Swing Message Box object / class, how do you create similar things to it, as I need to create a custom GUI for a program ive to do for uni.

And more importantly, is it more than likley beyond my abilities.

Thanks in advance