Expert: Artemus Harper - 11/6/2009

Question
Hi There. Im currently teaching myself java from different tutorils on the internet. verytime I try compiling any programs in the command promt, I get an error saying "javac is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." what could the problem be here. I tried reinstalling the JDK, but I sill get the same error.am I perhaps using the wrong JDK, if so, what would you suggest?

Thank you very much for your help

Answer
when you install the Java SDK it does not add the compiler to the PATH, only things on the PATH and the current directory can be directly executed. The javac executable is located in program files\JDK<version>\bin folder. You either need to type in that full path, change your current directory to that path, or add the bin directory to your PATH (Computer -> properties -> advanced -> enviromental settings, then edit PATH adding a ; and the path to your java install).

You can also simply download an IDE such as Eclipse or Netbeans and it will handle the compiling itself.