basic instantiation question

[Brad Clouser]

Hello,
I'm just learning Java, and can't figure out why I'm getting an error on this. I've read several tutorials, and it seems like everything is OK, but obviously it must not be. The file2.java file won't compile, generating a "Cannot Find Symbol" error. Does anyone see what I'm doing wrong here? Thanks!

file1.java

package testpkg;
public class file1 {
	String name;
	int number;
	double size;
	
	file1() {
		name = "Brad's File";
		number = 52;
		size = 1.234;
	}
}

file2.java

package testpkg;
public class file2 {
	public static void main (String[] args) {
		file1 myFile = new file1();
	}
}

I've created these two files on my desktop, and added /home/brad/Desktop to my $CLASSPATH. (I'm using Linux). I compile file1.java first, which works fine. Then I try to compile file2.java, which doesn't compile.

[Sebastian Janisch]

If you use a package named testpkg, your files need to be located in a folder called testpkg.

[Brad Clouser]

Thanks!!! That worked perfectly.
Do you know if there is any alternative to modifying the classpath when working with multiple classes? Is there any other way to tell the java compiler where to look? My goal with this question is to avoid the need for someone else to modify their CLASSPATH if I send them my java files. Thanks for your help!

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Generally you don't want to use the CLASSPATH environment variable at all. Both the Java compiler and the runtime accept a -classpath command-line switch; rather than setting CLASSPATH, you can and should always use the -classpath argument instead:

java -classpath c:\myclasses file2

[Brad Clouser]

Thanks! I will use the -classpath switch in the future. Thanks for your help.

[Campbell Ritchie]

If you are just beginning Java, it might be easier to miss out package names until you are more experienced.

[Brad Clouser]

Thanks for the tip. I took out the package names. I only had them in there because a lot of the tutorials I read started with "Assuming the files are in the same package..." Everything is working perfectly now. Thanks everyone!