A common question one may wonder is, which compiler should I use? There are a few choices, and your choice should probably be based on what you intend to write with it.

If you intend to program on Windows, a common choice is to download one of the many (free) Integrated Development Environment’s (IDE) which are currently available on the internet. The IDE’s I recommend are:

* NetBeans
* Eclipse

Netbeans and Eclipse are the equivalent of Visual Studios and CodeBlocks for C++. (NOTE: Netbeans and Eclipse is also available for download on Linux).

You will also need to have Java installed on your computer in order to develop Java applications. If you are using Windows, then visit the Oracle website. and download and install either JDK7 or JDK7 with Netbeans. Don’t bother with JRE, as it merely runs Java programs, but does not compile them.

==== LINUX USERS ====

To install Java, open the terminal window and enter the command:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

If you want to add Netbeans to your computer, then use the same terminal window and enter the command below:

sudo apt-get install netbeans

Alternatively, if you want to add Eclipse to your computer, then use the same terminal window and enter the command below:

sudo apt-get install eclipse-platform

Personally, I use a simple text editor (gedit) and the terminal window in Ubuntu to program in Java, and all the source code which is presented on this site was created using that development environment.