Installing JDK

To start off this process, let's download a Java Development Kit (JDK) or a Java SDK. This kit contains libraries and executables that allow us to do lots of different things with Java code. Most importantly, with our SDK installed, we'll be able to compile Java code and then run completed Java programs.

You may already have Java installed on your machine; however, unless you've done this explicitly, you probably haven't installed a Java SDK. The version of Java an average user has installed on their machine is called the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). This allows the execution of Java programs, and Java programs won't run on environments without the JRE installed. But the JRE doesn't contain any real development tools, which we're going to need. The good news is that a Java JRE and a Java SDK can exist harmoniously. A Java JRE is really just a subset of the SDK, so if we only have the Java Development Kit installed, which we're about to download, we're going to be fine.

If you have downloaded the Java Development Kit in the past, when you actually go to install this kit, Java will let you know that it's already installed and you can skip that portion of the section. For everyone else, check out how to download a development kit:

1. To begin with, navigate to www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html through your browser.

1. We're going to be using the Java SE, or Standard Edition, Development Kit maintained by Oracle. To acquire this kit, simply go to the Downloads tab, and express that we would like the JDK by selecting that option:

Scroll down, check out the license agreement, accept the license agreement, and then download the version of the SDK that's appropriate for your operating system. For me, that's jdk-8u144-windows-x64.exe, listed at the end:

1. Once your download is complete, install it as we would any other program. Choose the default options when appropriate and make sure to take note of the directory to which we will install our development kit.