simple Java editor needed

[Chris Trout]

Hello Everyone,
I am starting to work thru the Head First Java book and need a simple editor.
I do have Eclipse installed. I was using it to play with Android.
I installed Java version 1.6.0_18 SE on my computer so I could work thru the book.
Can I use Eclipse as my editor with this vesion of Java? Or should I download a simple Java editor?

Thank you in advance.
-Chris

[Nicola Garofalo]

Hi Chris,
try to begin with the simplest editor possible. Notepad perhaps.
You need to make tons of syntax errors at this stage.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Nicola Garofalo wrote:Hi Chris,
try to begin with the simplest editor possible. Notepad perhaps. . . .

I suggest you avoid NotePad and look for jEdit, Notepad++ or Notepad2, which are all much better for programming.

[Rob Spoor]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:I suggest you avoid NotePad

I couldn't agree more. Notepad is one of the worst text editors there is.

[Charles Nodell]

I would stick with a text editor and avoid fancy IDE's for the learning process. Most anything that is not notepad will do. I would look for something with syntax highlighting and perhaps auto-indention. These are sometimes called Source Code Editors or Programing text editors. Try some and see what you like! I prefer Geany at the moment. Here is a list of common editors, though there are many more:

Crimson Editor (Windows)
Emacs (Cross-platform, including Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows)
Geany (Linux, Windows)
jEdit (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
Kate/KDevelop (KDE)
NEdit (Linux, Unix, Mac OS X)
Notepad++ (Windows)
Programmer's Notepad text/source code editor (Windows)
PSPad (Windows)
SciTE (Windows, Linux)
TextMate (Mac OS X)
TextPad (Windows)
UltraEdit (Windows)
vi/Vim (Cross-platform, including Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, Windows)

*EDIT* I forgot to mention that I am also in the process of learning. I am in no way an authority, but this has worked well for me so far.

[Janeice DelVecchio]

I like notepad++.... probably one of the best editors I've used (and I tried several before I settled down). You can even keep it on a usb drive and use it on any computer if you'd like

This thread may be of some help:
http://www.coderanch.com/t/482446/Cattle-Drive/editor-do-students-assignment

[Lee Eun-Soo]

Chris Trout wrote:Hello Everyone,
I am starting to work thru the Head First Java book and need a simple editor.
I do have Eclipse installed. I was using it to play with Android.
I installed Java version 1.6.0_18 SE on my computer so I could work thru the book.
Can I use Eclipse as my editor with this vesion of Java? Or should I download a simple Java editor?

Thank you in advance.
-Chris

hi, i think eclipse is not a simple editor. eclipse is a useful tool you know. if you have experienced programming language like C, C++ so on, I think eclipse is good editor for you.
but if you're not, I think something else is better one like notepad, texteditor the basic one in your OS.

[Jesper de Jong]

+1 for Notepad++, it's a very good, free and versatile editor with syntax highlighting for Java and lots of other languages. The only disadvantage is that it works on Windows only.

On Linux, the standard editor gedit (for the GNOME desktop environment) is quite good, I also use that on my MacBook. There's also a Windows version of gedit, but it's not as good as the Linux and Mac OS X versions.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Yes, I usually use gedit; it's a very good tool. You can even get a LaTeX plugin for gedit

IDEs like Eclipse and NetBeans are useful for fast development, but can get in the way of learning in the early stages.

[Christophe Verré]

Can I use Eclipse as my editor with this vesion of Java?

Yes you can. You can install many JREs and choose which one to use for your Eclipse project.

[Chris Trout]

Thank you everyone for your input.
I decided to go with Notepad++.
I'm really not challenging it much but it seems fine for what I need it for now.

I'm wondering if there is a way to tell it to compile a source file or many source files?

-Chris

[Janeice DelVecchio]

No. You should start out by compiling from the command line.