A Java Programming Environment for CS 1025

If you do not have your own computer, or if you prefer to work with other people around, you can work on your assignments in the environment provided on the Computer Science Department labs MC 8, MC 10, MC 230 and MC 235. These sometimes have scheduled lab groups in them, who take priority, but otherwise you can use the labs as you like.

If you have your own computer and already have a preferred Java programming environment, you can use that.

Otherwise, if you wish to install a Java programming environment on your own machine, we recommend Eclipse.

Downloading and Using the Eclipse Environment

Eclipse can be obtained freely for Linux/MacOS/Windows from the Eclipse.org website. The "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers" is the best download to use.

For Eclipse to work, it needs to know where your Java run-time environment is. You probably already have one installed on your machine. If not, you can obtain a Java run-time environment from www.java.com. You can tell Eclipse where to find your Java run time environment by setting the JAVA_HOME environment variable, as described below.

On Windows:

Locate the directory which contains java.exe (javac.exe, javah.exe, jar.exe, etc) and take the last node off the directory tree off that path, usually called "bin" (i.e., if the full path is "c:\program files\jre\bin", the path you want is just "c:\program files\jre"). Right click "My Computer", hit "Properties", and under "Advanced" tab (the location of this varies on Windows XP, Vista and 7) you'll find a button (or link) to "Environment Variables". Under the Environment Variables dialogue create a new System-Wide variable called "JAVA_HOME" and assign it the path you found above.

On Linux:

Locate the directory containing the java, javac, etc, binaries in a manner similar to Windows (in that the "bin" part is unnecessary). Open a terminal, drop to a "bash" shell and run "export JAVA_HOME=<dir you found>" (no angle brackets). To make the changes permanent (for your user at least), edit $HOME/.${SHELL}rc and add the appropriate syntax at the end of that file (for bash, for example, it would be $HOME/.bashrc, and you would add "export JAVA_HOME=<dir you found>")