To start java programming you need to have a java compiler/interpreter.

In linux GCC has a java frount end for compiling java programs namely “gjc” which unfortnately doesnt work on my openSUSE 11.0 (maybe i m missing something) so u need to do 1 thing, open “yast” and open “software management” and then choose “patterns” as “filter” and then under the “development” heading check “java development” and a command will be added to your linux system –> “javac” <– which is used to compile a java program.

And if you dont want to do all this you can simply go to the sun’s site and download JDK (java development kit) which is available for downlaod for every platform.The only thing is that is you download it u will have to update it manually and if you adapt the above method for openSUSE u will get updates automatically through the update manager.

Now that you have obtained the basic requirements now commands “javac” and “java” will be added.

For linux find these commands in the terminal and for windows open the command prompt.

javac command is used to compile a java program that has .java extention and the code is converted to an intermediate java code which is coppied to a new file with same name and having .class extenstion now use java command to run the program but just feeding the filename (without any extension) to the java command, this command will automatically find the .class file in the current working directly and the program is executed.

example –>

$> javac Example.java

$> java Example

this is a test program.

$> _