println

[David McHugh]

really basic one this folks! i created a simple helloworld.java program and it works ok with no errors but it does not display hello world, just goes to a new prompt? i have tested another wrong script and it throws back errors, so it is compiling ok, any ideas?

this is the code, i am using vista business sp1 and jdk1.6.0_07

/*
* HelloWorld.java
*
* Created on 01/10/2008
*/
class HelloWorld {

public static void main(String args[]) {
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}
}

[Garrett Rowe]

what command are you using at the command line to run the program?

[fred rosenberger]

please check our Naming Policy, and follow the links there to update your screen name. Accounts that don't meet our requirements can and will be disabled.

Your code works just fine for me, printing "Hello World!" to the screen.

how exactly are you running this? from an IDE or from the command window?

[David McHugh]

i am typing,

javac helloworld.java

from the windows command prompt,

c:\program files\java\jdk1.6.0_07\bin>

and it just returns the following on the line underneath??

c:\program files\java\jdk1.6.0_07\bin>

[Sue Ambekar]

you need to see if the HelloWorld.class file exists in your directory or not and then give the command
-->java HelloWorld

This should show you the output.

[David McHugh]

hi sue,

there is no helloworld.class file in the directory, when i do java helloworld it works fine! cheers.. can you explain why i was told to type javac helloworld.java??? is that for more complex apps with seperate class files???

[Campbell Ritchie]

Sue, welcome to JavaRanch

Darryl: There are two stages to running a Java class

Compile it to bytecode with the javac command

interpret and execute the bytecode with the java command.

You are reminded that the java command takes the file name without its extension.

[Campbell Ritchie]

By the way, why are you keeping your files in the bin directory? You ought to create another directory elsewhere for .java and .class files. The bin directory should be reserved for executable files included in the JVM.

[David McHugh]

thanks for all the info guys. I was aware it was a two step approach to get it to work, i thought it was done automatically!! a bit wet behind the ears still.. I will move my files to a different folder, i was getting a bit frustrated at setting up the environment so i went straight to the root!!

Just one more thing, i have downloaded the free version of jcreator and it seems quite easy to compile programs, would this be better than using the command prompt???

Cheers

[Campbell Ritchie]

Difficult to be sure; I used to use JCreator a bit like a posh text editor and save the files and compile them from the command line; that was before I realised JCreator would compile them for me!
Most of us recommend not using an IDE when you are beginning because you need to get used to the command line and also there is enough of a learning curve with Java without having to learn an IDE as well. There are several text editors which work on Windows and are far better for programming than NotePad, eg NotePad2, NotePad++. These two are related to each other but not at all to the original NotePad.