Java Reference
In-Depth Information
You also are asked what parts of the kit to install. By default, the wizard will install all
components of the JDK:
Development tools
—The executable programs needed to create Java software
n
Demos and samples
—Java programs you can run and the source code files used to
create them, which you can examine to learn about the language
A
n
Source code
—The source code for the thousands of classes that make up the Java
class library
n
Public Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
—A Java interpreter you can distribute
with the programs you create
n
If you accept the default installation, you need around 350MB of free hard disk space.
You can save space by omitting everything but the program files. However, the demo
programs and Java runtime environment are extremely useful, so if you have the room,
it's a good idea to install them.
The source files are not needed for any of the material in this topic; they are primarily of
interest to experienced Java programmers.
To prevent a component from being installed, click the hard drive icon next to its name
and then choose the Don't Install This Feature Now option.
After you choose the components to install, click the Next button to continue. You may
be asked whether to set up the Java Plug-in to work with the web browsers on your
system.
The Java Plug-in is an interpreter that runs Java programs incorporated into web pages.
These programs, which are called applets, can work with different interpreters, but most
browsers do not include an interpreter that supports the current version of the Java lan-
guage. Sun offers the plug-in to provide full language support to Microsoft Internet
Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and other browsers.
After you complete the configuration, the wizard installs the kit on your system.
After the wizard installs the kit, you must edit your computer's environment variables to
include references to the kit.
Experienced MS-DOS users can finish setting up the kit by adjusting two variables and
then rebooting the computer:
