KeyListener + passing the focus properly:

@Override
public void keyTyped(KeyEvent ke) {
if(ke.getKeyChar() == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT){
//do something
}else if(ke.getKeyChar() == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT){
//do something else
}
}

@Override
public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
keyTyped(e);
}

also by input mapping:

private void inputMap(){

    this.getInputMap().put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(
        KeyEvent.VK\_LEFT, 0), "left");
    this.getActionMap().put("left", new AbstractAction() {
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
            //do something
        }
    });
}

try{
//code that causes the exception
}catch(SocketException e){
Sytem.err.println(e);
}

Do you want a practice with class inheritance? If yes: create a command line chess set, no AI need, just recreate the basic methods of movements,etc. no: create a command line turtle graphics app. Here is a turtle graphics problem definition: http://www.bfoit.org/itp/IntroCmdsScreencast.html[^]

Try searching for codec java libraries. Usually they need JMF to be used. Like this one: JFFMPEG[^]