Starting out with Java

David:

>I type javac Hello.java, and I get the message
>
>error: cannot read Hello.java
>
>So the compiler can't find the text file of the program
>I've written in notepad - but how do I get it to find
>then compile the file (which is stored in C\jdk1.4\bin)?

Here are a few things which should help you get started.

1) The name, spelling, and capitalization of the file name, must match exactly as you have named your class. For example, if you have declared your class as follows:

   class David {
   }

Then the name of the file must be "David.java".

DAVID.java and david.java will not work.



2) You can add C:\jdk1.4\bin to your PATH statement, so that DOS can find javac without your explicitly specifying the path. Then, from the directory where your java file is, you can issue a command like the following:

   javac Hello.java

Or, you can give the full path of where javac is located:

   C:\jdk1.4\bin\javac Hello.java



3) While in the C:\jdk1.4\bin directory, you can explicitly specify the location of your Hello.java file:

   javac C:\MyJavaFiles\Hello.java


4) You can always (from whatever directory you're in) explicitly specify the location of both javac and your Hello.java file:

   C:\jdk1.4\bin\javac c:\MyJavaFiles\Hello.java


-Dennis Borg