Embarrassing Download questions

Hi guys,

I started programming about a year ago in C and now I've started java too. The problem is my book, Head First Java (O'Reilly Edition) doesn't tell me exactly what to download. It says go to Java.Sun.com and download J2SE, or a newer version of Java. There wasn't anything called J2SE.

-Would this be good: JRE or JDK 6, 5.0, or 1.4.2?
-And would a download like that include a JVM and Compiler?
-Also, I was just wondering if there are any free versions out there, even if i have to use 5.0. I looked on Java.Sun.com and I'm pretty sure you have to pay, thought i don't know how much...

hello
use jdk 1.6
links to download jdk is java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

enjoy

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to JavaRanch!

All of Sun's JDKs (Java Developer's Kit, which includes the compiler and other tools) and JREs (Java Runtime Environment, which is just the runtime for end-users) have always been free.

o great guys,
thank you very much. Your right it's free, and a quick download

Kevin Given wrote:It says go to Java.Sun.com and download J2SE, or a newer version of Java. There wasn't anything called J2SE.

J2SE is now called Java SE, just like J2ME is now Java ME and J2EE is now Java EE. I believe this name change happened when Java 5.0 was released.

Hm... given the title, I was hoping for something much more colorful. Still, glad to see it's sorted out now.