Hi,
I'm just starting my programmers course in a couple of weeks, but got a dummies guide to learn a little bit before I get started.
apple and sun say that the jdk is already loaded onto my MBP, but I can 't seem to figure it out, or rather get it started.
Anyone have a clue?
You're better off learning Java without an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), of which NetBeans is one. Don't get me wrong, NB is good - I use it - but it's the WRONG WAY to learn Java; learning the IDE is harder than learning Java. Once you learn basic Java, learn the IDE.
Start with Sun's Java Tutorial, here:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/
Begin with the Get Started topic, there's a version for the MAC that tells you where to find Java on your machine (yes, it's already there.)
As I recall, Java came with my Mac out of the box, but only accessible from the command line, via the Terminal program, in /Applications/Utilities/. If you're going to be a computer programmer, then you might as well make Terminal stay in the Dock.
Also as I recall, the JDK that came with the Mac was JDK 1.3, and you had to download JDK 1.5. But that was a while ago and JDK 1.5 may come pre-installed.
You don't get an IDE, but the install disks have XCode on them as an optional install. But although my Mac-loving friends highly recommended XCode, I don't get it. Maybe there's some big advantage to it that I just haven't seen yet, but I prefer just using vi and javac.
The Mac knows how to run executable jar files out of the box as well.
paulcw is correct. Java is already on the OS X operating systems. And if you are running Tiger, than you have 1.4 by default. 1.5 is available from the Software Updates area. Just select the Software Update option in the blue apple menu to get to it.
Once you get the Terminal running, just enter "java -version" in the shell and that will tell you what version you are running.
The equivalent of the Java Home directory on OS X is /Library/Java/Home
http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1170.html
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/java/
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Java/Conceptual/Java14Development/index.html
And I agree with ChuckBing, I'd use NetBeans only after you are quite familiar with the Java environment.
