Getting Started

Alright, I've got the blog and the goal of teaching myself Java programming. What's next?

The first thing I did was found the Java download page:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

I downloaded and installed the JDK (Java development kit) + NetBeans bundle. It took forever to download and install and even longer to load NetBeans once it was installed. So I uninstalled NetBeans and Java and went back and downloaded the JDK by itself. That's all you really need to get started. Well that and a text editor, but there are more text editors than I care to list.

So, I'm now armed with a new programming language, but I don't know how to use it. I need some help. I searched and found the Java documentation at:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html#docs

I downloaded and unzipped the files to my Java install folder. I clicked the index file and my web browser opened and a couple clicks later I was starting the "Hello World" tutorial: http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/getStarted/cupojava/win32.html

So here's the tutorial.

Open Windows Notepad (Programs > Accessories > Notepad). Type the following text:

/**
 * The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
 * simply prints "Hello World!" to standard output.
 */
class HelloWorldApp {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
    }
}

Save this file as "HelloWorldApp.java". Make sure you type correctly. Java is case sensitive. That means "HelloWorldApp.java" is not the same as "helloWorldApp.java".

Open a command prompt (Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt) and navigate to where you saved "HelloWorldApp.java". To do this, type CD followed by the directory path. Here's a picture to show what I mean:

You should see your command prompt change

Type the following command and press Enter:

javac HelloWorldApp.java

This gives us a new class file

We run our new class file with the following command:

java HelloWorldApp

That's our first Java application!