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Joshua Whalen

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Dec 21, 2009, 3:48:18 PM12/21/09
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Hiya.

I'm finally biting the bullet and learning Java, after sneering and
growling for a decade. I inherited a stack of about 50 books for java 2
(all kinds) from a buddy, and I'm starting with the easiest one, working
my way through the rest.

My problem: the books specify IDE's and other tools that do not exist
for OS X these days, and make no mention of XCode. If I just want to
develop a generic java 2 .java file and compile it into a .class, what
do I do, what tools do I use? Which of the various Java types that XCode
offers is just "Plain Vanilla Java", if indeed there is such a thing?

Thanks in advance all. Hope my questions aren't too stupid.


Joshua

Sherm Pendley

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Dec 21, 2009, 4:27:16 PM12/21/09
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Joshua Whalen <joshua...@gmail.com> writes:

> My problem: the books specify IDE's and other tools that do not exist
> for OS X these days, and make no mention of XCode.

Xcode has only the most basic of support for Java. Most Java devs use
Eclipse or NetBeans.

sherm--

Joshua Whalen

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Dec 21, 2009, 4:45:52 PM12/21/09
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I kind of had that feeling. I can't seem to make heads or tails of
Eclipse, but I just DL'd it, so I assume it'll make sense once I play
with it a bit.

Is there a CLI tool that'll just compile a text file? I use BBedit for
almost everything unless I actually HAVE to use an IDE, and honestly
prefer it that way, at least for the very basic stuff. Needless to say,
I doubt it would be the best way for anything with oodles of files, but
I really don't want to have to learn a major new app just to do "Hello,
World!"

Thanks for the swift reply, anyway. I do appreciate your generosity!

Joshua

In article <m2aaxcn...@shermpendley.com>,

Sherm Pendley

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Dec 21, 2009, 6:05:54 PM12/21/09
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Joshua Whalen <joshua...@gmail.com> writes:

> In article <m2aaxcn...@shermpendley.com>,
> Sherm Pendley <spam...@shermpendley.com> wrote:
>
>> Joshua Whalen <joshua...@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> > My problem: the books specify IDE's and other tools that do not exist
>> > for OS X these days, and make no mention of XCode.
>>
>> Xcode has only the most basic of support for Java. Most Java devs use
>> Eclipse or NetBeans.
>

> I kind of had that feeling. I can't seem to make heads or tails of
> Eclipse

It's not my favorite either, to be honest. But when in Rome...

> Is there a CLI tool that'll just compile a text file?

The standard Java compiler is javac.

> I use BBedit for
> almost everything unless I actually HAVE to use an IDE, and honestly
> prefer it that way, at least for the very basic stuff. Needless to say,
> I doubt it would be the best way for anything with oodles of files, but
> I really don't want to have to learn a major new app just to do "Hello,
> World!"

You could have a look at Ant - it's the Java equivalent to "make."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Ant>

sherm--

Joshua Whalen

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Dec 21, 2009, 9:14:28 PM12/21/09
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Thanks a million! I guess I will have to learn eclipse, but javac really
does the trick for now, it's exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!


Joshua

In article <m2hbrk2...@shermpendley.com>,
Sherm Pendley <spam...@shermpendley.com> wrote:

> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Ant>

Steve W. Jackson

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Dec 22, 2009, 10:31:53 AM12/22/09
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In article <joshuafwhalen-DB1...@news.panix.com>,
Joshua Whalen <joshua...@gmail.com> wrote:

Contrary to what Sherm said, Ant isn't really "the Java equivalent of
make." It's also useful for projects in other languages. But it does
quite well for building Java language projects, and especially once you
get past the point where you've only got a very small number of source
files to compile. It will enable you to specify a classpath, source
location, output location, countless other things that can get tricky if
you have to keep typing commands. You could do much of that, if it's
repetitious, using shell scripts, but Ant is generally more flexible.
--
Steve W. Jackson
Montgomery, Alabama

Sherm Pendley

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Dec 22, 2009, 11:46:49 AM12/22/09
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"Steve W. Jackson" <stevew...@knology.net> writes:

> Contrary to what Sherm said, Ant isn't really "the Java equivalent of
> make." It's also useful for projects in other languages.

So is make. That being the case, how does that contradict what I said?

sherm--

Steve W. Jackson

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Dec 22, 2009, 1:36:37 PM12/22/09
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In article <m2r5qnr...@shermpendley.com>,
Sherm Pendley <spam...@shermpendley.com> wrote:

I took it to imply that Ant isn't useful outside of Java projects. Had
you merely said that Ant is similar to make, I wouldn't have taken it
that way. Maybe I misunderstood.

Sherm Pendley

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Dec 22, 2009, 3:23:14 PM12/22/09
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"Steve W. Jackson" <stevew...@knology.net> writes:

> I took it to imply that Ant isn't useful outside of Java projects. Had
> you merely said that Ant is similar to make, I wouldn't have taken it
> that way. Maybe I misunderstood.

Sorry for being unclear. What I meant was that, while Ant and make are
very similar, Ant is *far* more commonly used for Java projects than
make is.

sherm--

GreyCloud

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Jan 11, 2010, 12:22:27 AM1/11/10
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From my experience, there really is no stupid question.

Anyway, the best place to start, and forget XCode, is here:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/

Also, on the front page of Suns website http://www.sun.com you'll find
under downloads Netbeans IDE for OS X. I have found that there are a
few areas that a beginner needs to do... click on the preferences panel
and start exploring on how you want your environment to look and work.
The Sun Java Tutorials gives you a very good start.

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