Downloading and Installing JDK

This page shows how to download and install the latest version of the Java Development Kit (JDK). Read the instructions carefully to set the "classpath" mentioned in Step 3. Once JDK has been installed, you can write a simple Java program using an editor such as notepad and run it from a command prompt. Alternatively, Java programs can be written using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as NetBeans, described below.

1. JDK Versions

The Java Development Kit (JDK), officially named "Java Platform Standard Edition" or "Java SE", is needed for writing Java programs. The JDK is freely available from Sun Microsystems (now part of Oracle). The mother site for JDK (Java SE) is http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/overview/index.html.

 

"JDK" or "JRE"?

JRE (Java Runtime) is needed for running Java programs. JDK (Java Development Kit), which includes JRE plus the development tools (such as compiler and debugger), is needed for writing as well as running Java programs. In other words, JRE is a subset of JDK. Since you are supposed to write Java Programs, you should install JDK, which includes JRE.

 

JDK Versions

Reference: "Java Version History" @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history.

  1. JDK Alpha and Beta (1995): Sun Microsystem announced Java in September 23, 1995.
  2. JDK 1.0 (January 1996): Originally called Oak (named after the oak tree outside James Gosling's office). Renamed to Java 1 in JDK 1.0.2.
  3. JDK 1.1 (February 1997): Introduced AWT event model, inner class, JavaBean, JDBC, and RMI.
  4. J2SE 1.2 (JDK 1.2) (December 1998): Re-branded as "Java 2" and renamed JDK to J2SE (Java 2 Standard Edition). Also released J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) and J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition). Included JFC (Java Foundation Classes - Swing, Accessibility API, Java 2D, Pluggable Look & Feel, and Drag & Drop). Also introduced Collection Framework and JIT compiler.
  5. J2SE 1.3 (JDK 1.3) (May 2000): Introduced Hotspot JVM.
  6. J2SE 1.4 (JDK 1.4) (February 2002): Introduced assert statement, non-blocking IO (nio), logging API, image IO, Java webstart, regular expression (regex) support.
  7. J2SE 5.0 (JDK 5) (September 2004): Officially called 5.0 instead of 1.5. Introduced generics, autoboxing/unboxing, annotation, enum, varargs, for-each loop, static import.
  8. Java SE 6 (JDK 6) (December 2006): Renamed J2SE to Java SE (Java Platform Standard Edition).
  9. Java SE 7 (JDK 7) (July 2011): First version after Oracle purchased Sun Microsystem - aslo called Oracle JDK.
  10. Java SE 8 (JDK 8) (LTS) (March 2014): Included support for Lambda expressions, default and static methods in interfaces, improved collection, and JavaScript runtime. Also integrated JavaFX graphics subsystem.
  11. Java SE 9 (JDK 9) (September 21, 2017): Introduced modularization of the JDK (module) under project Jigsaw, the Java Shell (jshell), and more.
  12. Java SE 10 (18.3) (JDK 10) (March 2018): Introduced var for type inference local variable (similar to JavaScript). Introduced time-based release versioning with 2 releases each year, in March and September, denoted as YY.M. Removed native-header generation tool javah.
  13. Java SE 11 (18.9) (LTS) (JDK 11) (September 2018): Extended var to lambda expression. Standardize HTTP client in java.net.http. Support TLS 1.3. Clean up the JDK and the installation package (removed JavaFX, JavaEE, CORBA modules, deprecated Nashorn JavaScript engine).
  14. Java SE 12 (19.3) (JDK 12) (March 2019)

Source: Chua Hock-Chuan, https://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/ehchua/programming/index.html.
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