There are two Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) installed in our lab: JBuilder, by Borland, and Forte for Java, by Sun.
For this course, we primarily use a text editor to write our Java programs. Those planning to seek /continue employment in the field, however, will almost certainly be required to use one or another Java IDE.
For info on JBuilder, click here. A 30-day trial version of JBuilder 6 Enterprise is available for download.
This Instructor's personal favorite IDE happens to be Sun's Forte for Java. The free, unlimited 'Community' edition is available for download or CD purchase here. A slightly more powerful Enterprise edition is also available for purchase. This software is also on the CD that comes with the Deitel book.
Another popular IDE is IBM's VisualAge.
IBM offers two free developer editions of VisualAge. To download one of the 'Entry' Editions, click here. The Entry Professional Edition is agood version to start with. For those wishing to develop J2EE Enterprise Java applications, try the Entry Enterprise Edition.
Note that IBM's free Entry editions support a maximum of 750 classes. The full versions, available for purchase, do not have this limitation. If you wish to avoid the 200+ MB download, Entry edition CDs are available for purchase from IBM.
We'll be writing Java programs in a text editor. While Microsoft Notepad will do the job, serious students will want to consider using a more flexible and powerful editor.
For the Windows platform, here are two of the Instructor's favorite editors: