Swing components are JavaBean Components.  One of the most important things that we can do to understand Swing is to learn about the properties, events, and methods that Swing components exhibit.  Many are inherited from the class named JComponent and its superclasses.  These properties, events, and methods apply to Swing components as a group.  Learning about the inherited properties, events, and methods, makes it possible to learn a great deal about most Swing components without having to consider them individually.