The Java Development Environment

Nikki visited Professor Zhavah to find out more about mobile Java. He learned about programming languages in general and the basics of Java. This time he's looking forward to installing the tools he needs to start programming.

	Ah, where were we. . . . Last time we started talking about Java. Nikki, do you remember what Java's all about?
	It's a programming language. Java is special because it's multi-platform. We can run Java programs on different platforms and use it to develop mobile apps.
	Exactly, my boy. Looks like you're ready to prepare your Java development environment for mobile apps.
	Cool!

♦1. Development environment

	You'll need three things for development, so take a look at the next table.
	Whoa. Looks a little scary. 。
	Don't worry, Nikki. There's an installer for each of them at the sites, so installation is easy.
	Great!
	First you'll download and install the J2SE SDK and J2ME Wireless Toolkit from the listed sites.
	OK. I'll do my best.

♦2. J2SE SDK installation

♦2.1. Downloading the installer

	First off, install the development kit you'll need to take advantage of Java—the J2SE SDK. Go to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html.
	All right. Hey, it's full of links.
	Just click the link Download J2SE SDK, Nikki. Next you'll see the license agreement. After you read it, choose Accept and click Continue.
	OK. Whoa. Looks like a lot of links again.
	This is the screen to select your installer. Nikki, you have a Windows PC, so click the link Windows Installation, Multi-language to download the installer.

♦2.2. J2SE SDK installation

Start the installer and you'll see the license agreement. After reading it, choose the radio button for acceptance and click Next.

Now you'll be specifying what program to install and where to install it. Here, just use the default settings and leave the installation destination as it is, c:\j2sdk1.4.2_05\.

Here you’ll choose browsers for the Java plug-in. The default settings here are fine, too, Nikki, so just click the Install button. Installation will start as soon as you do.

You'll know it's finished when you see the screen telling you installation is complete.

♦2.3. Completing settings after installation

After the installer is finished, you're ready to configure your computer as your Java development environment. Right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop. In the contextual menu, choose Properties.

This will display the System Properties. On the Advanced tab, click the Environment Variables button. You'll see the screen for setting the Environment Variables.

If the variable Path isn’t listed in System variables, click the New button for that list.

Enter Path in Variable name. For Variable value, enter the file path for the folder bin, which was just installed with the J2SE SDK. Here, specify c:\j2sdk1.4.2_05\bin. After you've entered it, click the OK button.

Next we'll make sure your computer is correctly configured. Open a command prompt and enter javac. You're all set when the following screen is displayed.