Java Tutorial: Environment Setup

Local Environment Setup

If you are still willing to set up your environment for the Java programming language, then this section guides you on how to download and set up Java on your machine. 

Follow the instructions to download Java and run the .exe to install Java on your machine. Once you installed Java on your machine, you will need to set environment variables to point to correct installation directories.

Setting Up the Path for Windows

Assuming you have installed Java in c:\Program Files\java\jdk directory, right-click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties.'

Click the 'Environment variables' button under the 'Advanced' tab.

Now, alter the 'Path' variable so that it also contains the path to the Java executable. For example, if the path is currently set to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32, then change your path to read C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32;c:\Program Files\java\jdk\bin.

Setting Up the Path for Linux, UNIX, Solaris, and FreeBSD

The environment variable PATH should be set to point to where the Java binaries have been installed; refer to your shell documentation if you have trouble doing this.

For example, if you use bash as your shell, then you would add the following line to the end .bashrc: export PATH = /path/to/java:$PATH