Help setting up computer for Head First Java book?

[Joe Simpson]

Hi,

I am new to the java world and have just picked up the Head First Java book and need some help. I have Mac OSX operating system but I am having a lot of trouble getting everything set up using the command line to even get started with the book. I am not sure where to find the SDK, and if I do find it I do not really understand how to add an entry to my PATH environment? I am completely lost. Any help at all would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Scotty,
Welcome to CodeRanch!

On a Mac, your JDK is under /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines. For example, mine is at /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home

As far as how to edit it, see this post

[Petras Janulevicius]

Hi Guys,

It might sound funny but I can't figure out the same "path" thing for the "Head first java" exercise.
I mean I know what is path in pc but why you need it, where you need, do you have to do it once or several times?

I'm using mac el capitan - and I can't find my java folder in the library/java - there simply nothing there, but my pc preferences state that I have the latest java.?

Sorry for my confusion.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Welcome to the Ranch

Have you worked out how to open a terminal? Try the following instructions:-
java -version
javac -version
… and tell us what the responses are. Also which java and which javac would work on a Unix/Linux box, showing you where the installation of Java® you are using is.

Don't copy and paste the above instructions.

[Campbell Ritchie]

We have an FAQ which may help explain the PATH.

[Petras Janulevicius]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:Welcome to the Ranch

Have you worked out how to open a terminal? Try the following instructions:-
java -version
javac -version
… and tell us what the responses are. Also which java and which javac would work on a Unix/Linux box, showing you where the installation of Java® you are using is.

Don't copy and paste the above instructions.

Hey there!

I did workout how to open terminal, actually managed to workout a different program. I've compiled and run the simple program (MyFirstApp)
public class MyFirstApp {

public static void main (String[] args) {
System.out.println("I Rule!");
System.out.println("The World");

}

}

The Javac and java versions are 1.8.0_65 - I imagine they are updated.

However I just begun learning java with the book "Head First Java - 2005 edition". And the very reason I got stuck was that I've written a code exactly from the book and I could'nt get it to compile - received 16 errors!!! Now could someone have a quick look and state whether the I made a mistake in the code, or the book is outdated since its written for Java5.0 version and my pc has java 8!

Here's the code:

pubic class DooBee {
public static void main (String[] args){
int x=1;
while (x<3) {
System.out.print(“Doo”);
System.out.print(“Bee”);
x=x+1;
}

if=x+1;{
System.out.print(“Do”);
}
}
}


thanks in advance!

[Petras Janulevicius]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:We have an FAQ which may help explain the PATH.

Hi,

You are correct I had a look at there, but I'm still not very used to this forum layout and structure so I'm slightly confused over using properly fAQ. Also i've found some old posts like ( 12 years old) talking about paths and thinking..they might be a little bit outdated -.-

[Campbell Ritchie]

There will be little change in what it says about PATHs. The only change I can think of is that you used to use a .bat file on a Windows® machine to set the PATH and nowadays you use a properties dialogue.
The older posts may tell you how to set your CLASSPATH, which used to be required for Java® but no longer is, so setting a CLASSPATH usually does more harm than good.

[M Dias]

public static void main (String[] args) {
System.out.println("I Rule!");
System.out.println("The World");

}

}

The Javac and java versions are 1.8.0_65 - I imagine they are updated.

However I just begun learning java with the book "Head First Java - 2005 edition". And the very reason I got stuck was that I've written a code exactly from the book and I could'nt get it to compile - received 16 errors!!! Now could someone have a quick look and state whether the I made a mistake in the code, or the book is outdated since its written for Java5.0 version and my pc has java 8!

Here's the code:

pubic class DooBee {
public static void main (String[] args){
int x=1;
while (x<3) {
System.out.println(“Doo”);
System.out.println(“Bee”);
x=x+1;
}

if=x+1;{
System.out.println(“Do”);
}
}
}

in your code you typed Public wrong.. could it be?
i reckon what i underline could cause the errors.

[Petras Janulevicius]

M Dias wrote:public static void main (String[] args) {
System.out.println("I Rule!");
System.out.println("The World");

}

}

The Javac and java versions are 1.8.0_65 - I imagine they are updated.

However I just begun learning java with the book "Head First Java - 2005 edition". And the very reason I got stuck was that I've written a code exactly from the book and I could'nt get it to compile - received 16 errors!!! Now could someone have a quick look and state whether the I made a mistake in the code, or the book is outdated since its written for Java5.0 version and my pc has java 8!

Here's the code:

pubic class DooBee {
public static void main (String[] args){
int x=1;
while (x<3) {
System.out.println(“Doo”);
System.out.println(“Bee”);
x=x+1;
}

if=x+1;{
System.out.println(“Do”);
}
}
}

in your code you typed Public wrong.. could it be?
i reckon what i underline could cause the errors.

Hi thanks for correcting the public word.

I've tried compiling it again but this is the result:

pc-157-235:desktop Pedro$ javac DooBee.java
DooBee.java:5: error: illegal character: '\u201c'
System.out.println(“Doo”); 
                   ^
DooBee.java:5: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Doo”); 
                    ^
DooBee.java:5: error: illegal character: '\u201d'
System.out.println(“Doo”); 
                       ^
DooBee.java:5: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Doo”); 
                        ^
DooBee.java:6: error: illegal character: '\u201c'
System.out.println(“Bee”); 
                   ^
DooBee.java:6: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Bee”); 
                    ^
DooBee.java:6: error: illegal character: '\u201d'
System.out.println(“Bee”); 
                       ^
DooBee.java:6: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Bee”); 
                        ^
DooBee.java:10: error: '(' expected
if=x+1;{ 
  ^
DooBee.java:10: error: ')' expected
if=x+1;{ 
   ^
DooBee.java:10: error: not a statement
if=x+1;{ 
    ^
DooBee.java:11: error: illegal character: '\u201c'
System.out.println(“Do”); 
                   ^
DooBee.java:11: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Do”); 
                    ^
DooBee.java:11: error: illegal character: '\u201d'
System.out.println(“Do”); 
                      ^
DooBee.java:11: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Do”); 
                       ^
15 errors
pc-157-235:desktop Pedro$ 

[/code]

Is there something wrong with my mac? As I believe the u201d refers to symbols but I'm using a normal text editor, and tried using sublime too. - same effect.

Regarding the Print or PrintIn- the exercise is about printing a long word made from repeated tasks using the "while" thing in java. But the exercise is 5.0 version, has the printIn or Print changed perhaps?

thanks

[M Dias]

Petras Janulevicius wrote:

M Dias wrote:public static void main (String[] args) {
System.out.println("I Rule!");
System.out.println("The World");

}

}

The Javac and java versions are 1.8.0_65 - I imagine they are updated.

However I just begun learning java with the book "Head First Java - 2005 edition". And the very reason I got stuck was that I've written a code exactly from the book and I could'nt get it to compile - received 16 errors!!! Now could someone have a quick look and state whether the I made a mistake in the code, or the book is outdated since its written for Java5.0 version and my pc has java 8!

Here's the code:

pubic class DooBee {
public static void main (String[] args){
int x=1;
while (x<3) {
System.out.println(“Doo”);
System.out.println(“Bee”);
x=x+1;
}

if=x+1;{
System.out.println(“Do”);
}
}
}

in your code you typed Public wrong.. could it be?
i reckon what i underline could cause the errors.

Hi thanks for correcting the public word.

I've tried compiling it again but this is the result:

pc-157-235:desktop Pedro$ javac DooBee.java
DooBee.java:5: error: illegal character: '\u201c'
System.out.println(“Doo”); 
                   ^
DooBee.java:5: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Doo”); 
                    ^
DooBee.java:5: error: illegal character: '\u201d'
System.out.println(“Doo”); 
                       ^
DooBee.java:5: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Doo”); 
                        ^
DooBee.java:6: error: illegal character: '\u201c'
System.out.println(“Bee”); 
                   ^
DooBee.java:6: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Bee”); 
                    ^
DooBee.java:6: error: illegal character: '\u201d'
System.out.println(“Bee”); 
                       ^
DooBee.java:6: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Bee”); 
                        ^
DooBee.java:10: error: '(' expected
if=x+1;{ 
  ^
DooBee.java:10: error: ')' expected
if=x+1;{ 
   ^
DooBee.java:10: error: not a statement
if=x+1;{ 
    ^
DooBee.java:11: error: illegal character: '\u201c'
System.out.println(“Do”); 
                   ^
DooBee.java:11: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Do”); 
                    ^
DooBee.java:11: error: illegal character: '\u201d'
System.out.println(“Do”); 
                      ^
DooBee.java:11: error: ';' expected
System.out.println(“Do”); 
                       ^
15 errors
pc-157-235:desktop Pedro$ 

[/code]

Is there something wrong with my mac? As I believe the u201d refers to symbols but I'm using a normal text editor, and tried using sublime too. - same effect.

Regarding the Print or PrintIn- the exercise is about printing a long word made from repeated tasks using the "while" thing in java. But the exercise is 5.0 version, has the printIn or Print changed perhaps?

thanks

It's indeed weird and it's obviously something we are missing. The compiler is saying that “Bee”); the quotes are wrong in this line ....
also here DooBee.java:6: error: ';' expected ... so it's expecting a semicolon which you have.
uhmmm.
I'll have a deep look and i'll try to help meanwhile if you uncover a solution let me know as well

[Petras Janulevicius]

M Dias,

Really thanks for posting back.

I've never encountered such a problem with java, but I did encounter similar problem while saving files for Html or css in the past and I think its got to do something with mac default text editor, the encoding preferences.

Google more on this symbol error and found out that it's not so rare :-)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1992933/illegal-character-when-trying-to-compile-java-code

Digging deeper to solve it...

[M Dias]

Petras Janulevicius wrote:M Dias,

Really thanks for posting back.

I've never encountered such a problem with java, but I did encounter similar problem while saving files for Html or css in the past and I think its got to do something with mac default text editor, the encoding preferences.

Google more on this symbol error and found out that it's not so rare :-)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1992933/illegal-character-when-trying-to-compile-java-code

Digging deeper to solve it...

To be totally fair.. i'm starting writing Java myself. And I encounter the same problems when compiling. I'm on a mac too and sometimes it drives me insane.

[Petras Janulevicius]

M Dias wrote:

Petras Janulevicius wrote:M Dias,

Really thanks for posting back.

I've never encountered such a problem with java, but I did encounter similar problem while saving files for Html or css in the past and I think its got to do something with mac default text editor, the encoding preferences.

Google more on this symbol error and found out that it's not so rare :-)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1992933/illegal-character-when-trying-to-compile-java-code

Digging deeper to solve it...

To be totally fair.. i'm starting writing Java myself. And I encounter the same problems when compiling. I'm on a mac too and sometimes it drives me insane.

Wooohooo I managed to get it done!!!

First I changed my texteditor to a plain text editor ( found one in Appstore named: TextEditor - Text editor & File manager).
This solved the symbol error issue. Apparently there are issues when you compile java from rich text text editors.

Second - Re-checked my exercise..apparently I made some mistakes in it too, which didn't appear until the symbol problem was solved. So this is the actual code I'm suppose to use in the "Head First Java":

	public class DooBee {
		public static void main (String[] args){
			int x=1;
			while (x<3){
				System.out.print("Doo");
				System.out.print("Bee");
				x=x+1;
			}
			if (x==3){
				System.out.print("Do");
			}
		}
	}

By looking at it I've learned that the uppercase is important as I missed them as well..

To all who replied thanks for the support as its important to feel that there is support even for the newbies and seems like trial and error is still the best teacher;-)

Thanks!

[Campbell Ritchie]

Petras Janulevicius wrote:. . . Apparently there are issues when you compile java from rich text text editors. . . . By looking at it I've learned that the uppercase is important as I missed them as well.. . #x20d;. .

Yes, it was obvious when I saw your quotes looked like “ and ”, which are \u201c and \u201d. I use them all the time, so I am used to them. The compiler expects Strings to be delimited by "…", but you are allowed to put the posh quotes inside a String literal.
You have also seen the pitfall wereby you write printIn instead of println; if you look quickly at the two spellings it id very easy not to see the difference. If you pronouce it as print‑line you can see there isn't going to be an I in it.

Since you have gone to a lot of trouble getting dobeedobeedobeedo to print, I shall challenge you: does the bit about (x > 3) make the slightest difference to the execution of the program? I think I shall have to beef the thread up by sending some beef your way. Only it will be very fresh

[Petras Janulevicius]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:

Petras Janulevicius wrote:. . . Apparently there are issues when you compile java from rich text text editors. . . . By looking at it I've learned that the uppercase is important as I missed them as well.. . #x20d;. .

Yes, it was obvious when I saw your quotes looked like “ and ”, which are \u201c and \u201d. I use them all the time, so I am used to them. The compiler expects Strings to be delimited by "…", but you are allowed to put the posh quotes inside a String literal.
You have also seen the pitfall wereby you write printIn instead of println; if you look quickly at the two spellings it id very easy not to see the difference. If you pronouce it as print‑line you can see there isn't going to be an I in it.

Since you have gone to a lot of trouble getting dobeedobeedobeedo to print, I shall challenge you: does the bit about (x > 3) make the slightest difference to the execution of the program? I think I shall have to beef the thread up by sending some beef your way. Only it will be very fresh

Hi there,

thanks for clearing things completely

I would never have guessed that there are are posh quotes! If I may ask, in what circumstances you use symbol encoding such as /u201c or d?

And what does exactly "String literal" refers to?

I didn't notice the difference between neither of them in the book nor while executing the program as I've changed to @print@ before testing it with the print+In mistake. thank you for that, I'l remember it very well.

Regarding the challenge. the equation x> 3 changes the results we get. "DooBee" is a single result for satisfying the equation which in our case is x<3, but since the exercise required to repeat it twice and move on to next changing the number "3" to 4 or more would cause different result. In my humble understanding the loop "while" will be repeated until it cannot satisfy the equation anymore and will move on to the other equation which can be repeated only once I guess and we get the expected result ( Doobee+DooBee+Do).

- actually the code in the book came unfinished and it required creating the equation conditions (x < 3) and x==3.

Hehe, can I barbecue the beef?

[Campbell Ritchie]

Petras Janulevicius wrote:. . . can I barbecue the beef?

No. You can however swap it for beer.

A String literal is any String which you write in your code with non‑posh quotes. If you write "Campbell" anywhere, everybody will be very surprised that will constitute a String literal. And the compiler sees a String literal as an object in its own right.

[Campbell Ritchie]

…and I should learn to read. There I was saying x > 3 and it said x == 3.

[Petras Janulevicius]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:

Petras Janulevicius wrote:. . . can I barbecue the beef?

No. You can however swap it for beer.

A String literal is any String which you write in your code with non‑posh quotes. If you write "Campbell" anywhere, everybody will be very surprised that will constitute a String literal. And the compiler sees a String literal as an object in its own right.

Beer sounds fine!

The string literal - still trying to figure out, but probably it will take time..

thank you again!

[Campbell Ritchie]

Literals are simpler than you think. If you write 123 or 123.45 or 123.45e67 those are number literals of different kinds.
If you write "Petras" that is a String literal. A literal is a piece of code representing a value, which is the value you want. Just as 123.45 is the same as the value 123.45, so "Petras" constitutes a String literal identical in value to the String containing P-e-t-r-a-s. It is all in the Java® Language Specification, only that can be difficult to understand.

[Dave Tolls]

Petras Janulevicius wrote:I would never have guessed that there are are posh quotes! If I may ask, in what circumstances you use symbol encoding such as /u201c or d?

They're used to give a typeset feel, where closing quotes and opening quotes are different glyphs. It's why you see them in rich text editors (like Word).

The normal ascii-style double (and single) quotes are only a single symbol, used for both opening and closing quotes.