What development environment for Complete Newbs?

What would you suggest for editor et al for a complete newb to Java?

Should I still be running from the command window?

Any other tools I should acquire?

a complete noob should use the command line and a simple text editor. notepad works if you are careful and don't let it stick the '.txt' extension on the end of your .java files.

OK.

Then is there a way to make the command line interpreter a little smarter?

Also,
I see a lot of examples copied from some editor that numbers lines, what is that?

What do you mean by 'make the command line interpreter a little smarter"?

and if you paste your code in here using the 'code' tags, it will number them for you.

Terry Wynn wrote:OK.

Then is there a way to make the command line interpreter a little smarter?

Also,
I see a lot of examples copied from some editor that numbers lines, what is that?

NotePad++ is a good way to go. It provides a little functionality, but is not really an IDE.

What do you mean "make the command line interpreter smarter"? What ar eyou wanting it to do?

things that are available from shells in Linux, like repeat last command, finish command, that sort of thing.

I have installed Notepad++

How do I link N++ to the default of Java source code so that I can click and open with N++ ?

Thank you

assuming windows, you can hit the up arrow to scroll through your prior commands (at least on my two windows boxes). Tab will often complete a file name, but not a command (to my knowledge).

Terry Wynn wrote:I have installed Notepad++

How do I link N++ to the default of Java source code so that I can click and open with N++ ?

Thank you

Not sure how to do it from within N++ (don't have it on this computer), but you could just right click on a .java fine, select "Open With...", then "Choose Program" and select notePad++, and set it as the default for those kinds of files.