Installing the NetBeans IDE

With our Java Development Kit installed, we technically have all the tools we need to start writing Java programs. However, we'd have to compile them through a command line, which can look a little different on different operating systems.

So to keep everything simple, let's start learning Java by writing our Java code in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This is a software program of its own that helps us write, compile, and run Java programs. We're going to use the NetBeans IDE, which is awesome because it is free, open source, and it's going to operate just about the same on Windows, Mac, and Linux environments.

To acquire this IDE, head to netbeans.org/downloads/.

You'll see the following page:

Because we've downloaded the Java Standard Edition Development Kit, Java SE is the version of NetBeans that we're going to download here. Choose the Download button below the Java SE column. NetBeans should start our download automatically, but if it doesn't, click on the link shown in the following image:

Once again, we're going to install NetBeans as we would any other program, choosing the default options when appropriate. Most likely, NetBeans will locate the Java Development Kit on our machine. If it doesn't, it will prompt us for the directory in which we installed the Java Development Kit.