By Lon Hosford

You need at a minimum to acquire the Java compiler and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for standalone applications. You may also use development tools available on the marketplace. In fact you will find netBeans at the java.sun.com web site as a possible choice. I never used it and not sure but I think it is free. There are others such as Eclipse but it is up to you to locate, acquire, and learn to use them. I cannot support all the development tools so you are on your own for these and may create threads in the Chat room to discuss using them. 

I will use the Java compiler and JVM to test programs and provide examples and those with a text editor will suffice for the course.  

The Java compiler and JVM come as part of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 1.4.2. The link for Windows version of Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 1.4.2 is http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html. 

At this link you will find a bar entitled  "J2SE v 1.4.2_04  SDK  includes the JVM technology". Click on the Download J2SE SDK link under that bar.

 For installation instructions you can look at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/install-windows.html.