Articles : JavaBoutique's Introduction to Java :
Installing the Java Development Kit :

Getting the JDK

Okay, OOP is quite abstract and if you're like me, your brain is probably swimming by now.

So let's step back and do some really concrete stuff. Let's get ourselves a copy of the Java Developer's Kit (JDK) so that we can actually try out some actual examples of all of this stuff.

The JDK is a set of development resources that allows you to create, compile and run Java Programs.

It includes such essential components as the Java class libraries, the javac bytecode compiler, and a Java virtual machine called appletviewer that you can use to execute your applications.

NOTE: As you begin to use the JDK you will note right off that it is not too fancy. Most of the interaction you'll have with the JDK will be in some sort of text editor or on the command line. Of course, there are plenty of other development environments such as Symantec Cafe, Microsoft's SDK, Visual J++, etc... that leverage off the JDK themselves to give the programmer a more robust, drag-and-drop type development experience. However, in the beginning, I recommend that you go through the process of developing with the JDK in order to really get a feel for the processs of creating and compiling Java by hand. Visual developmnt tools are very nice, but they do not help you understand the inner workings of the language.

In order to get a copy of the latest version of the JDK you should point your web browser to Javasoft and download it.

At the time of this writing, the most recent version of the JDK is the JDK 2.0. However, this kit is still a work-in-progress and though I recommend that you download JDK2.0 and set it up for yourself to examine, I would not necessarily code any real applications based on JDK2.0 until the kit has had a bit more time to mature.

Instead, you should download the most recent stable JDK, which at the time of this writing is, JDK 1.2.2. JDK 1.2.2 brings new functionality in many areas including the Java@A@A 2DTM API, Java Accessibility API, Drag and Drop, Application Services, Extensions Framework, Collections, Input Methods, Version Identification, Weak References, Java interface definition language (IDL), Java Virtual Machine* Debugger Interface (JVMDI), the Java Servlet standard extension, and Javadoc Doclets.

Major enhancements have also been added to JavaBeansTM component architecture, Java Security API, Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) technology, Object Serialization, Java Sound API, Java Archive (JAR), and Java Native Interface (JNI) API.

Performance enhancements include SolarisTM operating environment native thread support, memory compression for loaded classes, faster memory allocation and garbage collection, monitor speedups, and native library JNI port.

Finally, the kit includes the Japanese locale.

Here is a screen shot of what the Javasoft download site should look like. Make sure to take time to download the online documentation as well. We will use it later in this tutorial.

And here is an example of a Save Dialog generated by my web browser when I began to download the JDK. (Give yourself plenty of time because the JDK takes a good ten minutes to download, especially over a modem.)

NEXT

Selena Sol contributes to the JavaBoutique's Introduction to Java. Selena curently works for Barclays Capital in London, one of the leading global investment banks in Europe and has worked as a software developer for the National Center for Human Genome research, Microline Software, Neuron Data, and Electric Eye in Singapore. Selena is perhaps best-known for creating the Public Domain Web Script Archive (Extropia) and writing several books on Web Programming (Perl, CGI, Java).
Email: selena@extropia.com

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