What is the Difference between SDK And JDK?

[ahmed abdul]

Hi all ,
i would like to know the difference between Java SDK and Java JDK?

[Christophe Verré]

There's a definition at Wikipedia.

[Jesper de Jong]

Yes, but I don't agree with the paragraph "Ambiguity between a JDK and an SDK" in that article.

"The remainder of the SDK is composed of extra software, such as Application Servers, Debuggers, and Documentation."

This is nonsense. "Java SDK" is exactly the same as "JDK". For some reason, Sun first called it "JDK" and later they started calling it "Java SDK". There is no difference between the two, and there are not two separate things that are called "JDK" and "Java SDK".

[marc weber]

Originally posted by Jesper Young:
...I don't agree with the paragraph "Ambiguity between a JDK and an SDK"...

Yeah, I don't agree with that Wikipedia paragraph either. It claims...

In the descriptions which accompany their recent releases for Java SE, EE, and ME, Sun acknowledge that under their terminology, the JDK forms the subset of the SDK which is responsible for the writing and running of Java programs.

But no source is cited for this, and I haven't been able to find it under Java 6 SE Docs. Searching the internet, I found the "subset" idea paraphrased, but I could not find anything definitive to support it. To the contrary, Sun's Java SE Naming and Versions says...

Due to significant popularity within the Java developer community, the development kit has reverted back to the name "JDK" from "Java 2 SDK"...

[ October 30, 2007: Message edited by: marc weber ]

[marc weber]

Sun's Java SE Technologies at a Glance says...

The JDK is a superset of the JRE, and contains everything that is in the JRE, plus tools such as the compilers and debuggers necessary for developing applets and applications.

This is obviously quite different than what the Wikipedia article claims, but I wonder if someone misconstrued this? Or simply added their own elaboration to it?