What You Need to Write Programs

As explained in Hour 1, to create Java programs you must have a development tool that supports the Java Development Kit (JDK) such as the NetBeans integrated development environment (IDE). You need a tool that can compile and run Java programs and a text editor to write those programs.

With most programming languages, computer programs are written by entering text into a text editor (also called a source code editor). Some programming languages come with their own editor. Oracle’s development tool NetBeans includes its own editor for writing Java programs.

Java programs are simple text files without any special formatting such as centered text or boldface text. The NetBeans source code editor functions like a simple text editor with an extremely useful enhancement. Color text highlights identify different elements of the language as you type. NetBeans also indents lines properly and provides helpful programming documentation.

Because Java programs are text files, you can open and edit them with any text editor. You could write a Java program with NetBeans, open it in Windows Notepad and make changes, and open it again later in NetBeans without any problems.