Given the included JAR files, I'd be interested to know if the author measured only his performance in coding Java against his students.

Although I usually code in a basic text editor, Java is one of those languages in which I personally found setting up and getting familiar with a good IDE makes a huge difference. Back at University, my pure CS professors initially discouraged us from using Eclipse, Netbeans, etc. They certainly didn't want to teach us how to use them.