Java Programming Language and IDEs

While there are many IDE (Integrated Development Environment) options when programming in Java, you must first download the latest version (1.6 aka just 6) of the Java SDK (Software Development Kit) as well as the JRE (Java Runtime Environment) from Oracle.

Once you've downloaded and loaded the Java SDK on your machine, you can either program and run it in command line mode, or use one of the following IDEs that work with the SDK

  • Eclipse was originally created by IBM in November 2001 and supported by a consortium of software vendors. The Eclipse Foundation was created in January 2004 as an independent not-for-profit corporation to act as the steward of the Eclipse community. Eclipse is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems.

  • Net Beans NetBeans began in 1996 as Xelfi (word play on Delphi), a Java IDE student project under the guidance of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University in Prague. In 1997 Roman Staněk formed a company around the project and produced commercial versions of the NetBeans IDE until it was bought by Sun Microsystems in 1999. Sun open-sourced the NetBeans IDE in June of the following year. Since then, the NetBeans community has continued to grow. NetBeans is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris systems.

  • Blue J was started in 1999 by Michael Kölling and John Rosenberg at Monash University as a successor to the Blue system. Blue was an integrated system with its own programming language and environment. BlueJ implements the Blue environment design for the Java Programming Language. BlueJ is currently being maintained by a joint team at the University of Kent, Canterbury, England – where Kölling now lectures, and La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. BlueJ is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems.

  • J Creator is a Java IDE created by Xinox Software. Its interface is similar to that of Microsoft's Visual Studio. Because it is programmed entirely in C++, (with exception to the first version (0.1) which was Java-based), Xinox Software has asserted that JCreator is faster than competing Java-based Java IDEs. JCreator is only available for the Windows Operating System.

  • Greenfoot is an interactive Java development environment designed primarily for educational purposes at the high school and undergraduate level. It allows easy development of two-dimensional graphical applications, such as simulations and interactive games. Greenfoot is being developed and maintained at the University of Kent and La Trobe University, with support from Oracle. It is free software, released under the GPL license. Greenfoot is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Sun Solaris, and any recent JVM.

C/C++ Programming

  • GCC used to stand for the GNU C Compiler, but since the compiler supports several other languages aside from C, it now stands for the GNU Compiler Collection.

  • Xcode is the complete developer toolset for creating applications for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. This package installs the Xcode IDE, performance analysis tools, iOS Simulator, and platform frameworks and APIs in the form of Mac OS X SDKs and iOS SDKs. The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) includes the gdb debugger, analysis tools, performance tools, source-code management tools, and many other code utilities.

  • Free C/C++ Compilers that have not been vetted. Experiment at your own risk.