Although it is possible to compile Java apps and applets from the command line (which is the method we have chosen for this tutorial), it is a good idea to use an integrated development environment (IDE). The main reason for this is that it gives you everything in one place (i.e., a text editor, compiler/interpreter linkage, help system, and sometimes even more useful features such as code auto-complete). Our development tool of choice is JCreator, as it provides a reasonably simple IDE that maintains some great features. The freeware version is available on the companion CD; however, we highly recommend upgrading to the professional version. More information can be found on the web site .

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The IDE that our technical editor Mika likes is IntelliJ IDE. It is quite easy to use and has many very powerful features in it: .

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(From technical editor Joel) If you have a few extra megabytes of RAM, definitely give Eclipse a try. This free open-source Java editor built by IBM is better than many professional level IDEs and is gaining a large contributing user community, as well as industry support (including Borland, Rational, Togethersoft, and Webgain). It allows for clean, straightforward navigation and advanced debugging of code, with tools and wizards to build and refactor your code. Incremental compiling allows you to modify your program while it is running. It is useful for writing game servers for a network: .