How to install the Java2 Standard Development Kit
by Larry Arnoldy
To install the Java 2 Standard
Development Kit (Java 2
SDK), download the SDK and documentation from the Javasoft web page and
then install it to your PC. You might also see
references to a JDK in publications. The Java SDK used to be
called the JDK until Java 2 was separated into a Standard Edition and
an Enterprise Edition. There is also a edition for small devices such
as cell phones and PDAs. We will concern ourselves only with the
Standard Edition.
Step 1 - Browse to Sun's Java Internet
site.
The url is
http://java.sun.com . Then click
on the
J2SE 1.4.2 SDK link.
As of this writing the current version is
1.4.2, but that will change over time. J2SE stands for Java 2 Standard
Edition. That is what you want. There is also a link to a J2EE
download. This is the enterprise edition. You do not want the
enterprise edition, so be careful to select the J2SE version.
Step 2 - Select the files to download.
You need to download the Java 2
Standard Edition and the Documentation. You will also want to
eventually download NetBeans. NetBeans is an integrated development
environment (IDE) for Java. With it, you will be able to edit Java
source code and compile and run Java applications. You can download the
J2SE and NetBeans in one bundle (97 MB) or you can download the J2SE
(50 MB) and NetBeans separately (39 MB). You will also need to download
the Java documentation (34 MB).
Do not download the J2EE nor the JRE. The JRE is the Java Runtime
Environment, and is included in the SDK.
Step 3 - Respond to the license pages
and select a location on your hard drive for the downloads to be stored.
A file with a name similar to
j2sdk-1_4_2_04-nb-3_6-bin-windows.exe or
j2sdk-1_4_2_04-windows-i586-p.exe
will be downloaded.
Step 4 - Return to the above page and
download the J2SE Documentation.
A file with the name similar to
j2sdk-1_4_2-doc.zip will be downloaded.
Step 5 - Install the J2SE.
If your download manager offers you to
execute the downloaded .exe file, then do so. If not, use a file
explorer to navigate to the J2SE file that you just downloaded. Execute
the file using the standard file explorer command (double click on the
file name or use the menu
File | Open).
Follow the instructions. If you use the
default location for the install on Windows, the location will be a
directory with the name similar to
j2sdk1.4.2_04. It contains the
directories
bin,
demo,
include,
jre, and
lib.
The Java documentation is a zip file.
It needs to be unzipped and extracted to the correct location.
The instructions below are rather general, because how you extract the
files from the zip file depends upon the zip utility that you have.
- If you are using Windows XP or if you have a zip file application
such as WinZip, use a file
explorer to navigate to the location where you downloaded the Java
documentation, and double click on the file.
- You should then see the contents of the zip file. It may take
several minutes for the files to show - there are 35 MB of them in the
zip file! Select all the files (In Windows, click inside the file
display window and press Control-A to select
all the files). Start the command to extract the files. In Windows,
click the
right mouse button and then click Extract
to ....
- When asked to select a location to which the files should be
extracted, browse to the location where the J2SE is located. and click
on the Extract button. This may take several minutes to finish (the 35
MB of files).
- After the doc files are extracted, they will show under the J2SE
directory in the docs directory.
Step 7 - Create bookmarks/favorites
for the Java documentation and Java API.
It is a good idea to make bookmarks or
favorites as the case may be in your favorite browser for the Java
documentation and the Java API. The Java API is the complete
documentation to the built in classes and methods.
- Use the file manager to navigate to the index.html files in the
docs and docs\api directories. Double click on the index.html files.
- A browser window for each one should appear in your favorite
browser. Create a bookmark (or favorite as the case may be) for
each of these pages. The first page of each are shown below.
Last modified: 13 June 2004
