Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Installing the Java Development Kit
You can download the Java Development Kit from Sun's Java website at
http://java.
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The website's Downloads section offers links to several different versions of the Java
Development Kit, and it also offers the NetBeans development environment and other
products related to the language. The product you should download is called the Java
Software Development Kit version 6. If you can't find it in the Downloads section of the
site, look for an Early Access section that offers beta releases.
The kit is available for the following platforms:
Windows 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003, and Vista
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Solaris SPARC and Intel
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Linux
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The kit requires a computer with a Pentium processor that is 166MHz or faster, 32MB of
memory, and 400MB of free disk space.
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The Macintosh version of the kit is available directly from Apple.
To find out more about Apple's kit and download the tool, visit the
When you're looking for this product, you might find that the Java Development Kit's
version number has a second number after 6, such as “JDK 6.1.” To fix bugs and address
security problems, Sun periodically issues new releases of the kit and numbers them with
an extra period and digit after the main version number. Choose the most current version
of JDK 6 that's offered, whether it's numbered 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, or higher.
CAUTION
Take care not to download two similarly named products from Sun
by mistake: the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6.0 or the Java
Standard Edition 6.0 Source Release.
To go directly to the kit's download page, the current address is
http://jdk6.dev.java.net.
To set up the kit, you must download and run an installation program (or install it from a
CD). On Sun's website, after you choose the version of the kit that's designed for your
operating system, you can download it as a single file.
