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Please tell me the "program" I need in order to write, debug, and compile JAVA programs; I heard that there are "free" ones out there. Can someone please tell me what I need in order to have a setup for JAVA just like MS Visual Studio has for C++ and Visual Basic? I am running Windows 98 with a PIII 850 Mhz and 128 Mb RAM.
Thanks !
No IDE is required you can just ues notepad but as for free IDE's you can get FORTE from Sun's site. JCreator is good. Borlands JBuilder is another good one. I use JCreator which i had to pay for but there is also a free version you can get you paws on too. :p
you can use Forte for Java. It's a free download from Sun. That would be mostly for GUI apps, I think. You can also use Notepad if you want. The source code is just plain text, like any other language. Then, you compile it into executable class files. There is a thread a few down on this page with links to different compilers.
:)
I started out on notepad when I first started learning Java, but as you start to get more experienced you will want a IDE application as it can help navigate to parts of your code much easier and quicker.
I got JBuilder 3 University edition with my Java Book that I bought. I'm sure you must be able to also download a university edition of JBuilder from Borland’s web site.
If your going to use Notepad initially you will need to download JDK from Sun's website, this contains the Java compiler etc
Here's how to get startled in Java--a checklist:
:) go to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/ and download jdk1.3 (they call it java 2 sdk 1.3 standard edition)
:) If you are using Windows, locate and download edit plus. ( http://www.editplus.com/ ) Why? Because it's a versatile editor and it color highlights java, javascript, perl and a whole slew of others.
:) If you need an IDE, go to this article http://slashdot.org/developers/01/11/08/0036217.shtml this is a recent posting where people discussed the relative merits of Java IDEs. It's basically a big rambling review.
IDE or not? Whether to use an IDE is up to you. Some would argue that a color highlighting editor is best because you learn the syntax more thoroughly. I've found that an IDE prolongs the learning process because it pumps out a lot of Java syntax that I don't understand. On the other hand, some of the java IDEs offer intellisense-like features that help you discover the object hierarchy simply by bumbling around with the keyboard like in VB.
Marlin