Components you need to keep handy

Note: Here onwards, anything referring to Java I will be mentioning Java SE. If any other form I am talking about, I will be mentioning that explicitly.

Writing and running a Java programs needs the following,

1. Your interest
2. Your time
3. A text editor
4. A JDK

Of these the first two I don't have any control but for the last two I can guide you.

• A text editor is program where plain text can be written and edited. All modern operating systems come with a preinstalled text editor like Notepad in Windows OS or VI editor in Unix. You can get some more cool stuffs freely available on web but a basic text editor will suffice for now. Some suggests IDEs like NetBeans or Eclipse to use. But personally I think a begineer should not use them. Working with basic editors, you will get to know the steps involved in the process of executing a Java program.
• JDK or Java Development Kit is a set of tools and libraries for a java application to become alive. There are basically two set of tools and libraries,

1. Development tools like Compiler, Debugger, different other tools.
2. Java Virtual Machine or Java Runtime Environment. This is a layer on top of the OS being used to run Java proggrams. I will be spending another post for this topic. Cause this is really important to know about JVM and what it does.

You can download JDK from Oracle website. You will need to decide which version to download. I recommend downloading Java SE 7.0. Following is the link to download JDK.
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html


Now, this is the bare minimum requirement for a java program to run. You write a Java program in a text editor, compile it using Java Compiler javac(part of JDK) and run on JVM(which is also distributed with JDK).

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Palash Kanti Kundu