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Comment by Random_Person | Hacker News Reader

I need to keep track of this thread. I have not heard of some of these before.

I'm currently learning with Notepad so I can force the syntax on myself. Is this a bad idea for a newb? I have Notepad++ but I haven't fired it up for Java yet, I just like it because I'm used to Geany on my linux machines and it feels similar.

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An IDE can help you learn syntax as well, with the added benefit that your code is compiled incrementally every time you save the file (at least with Eclipse), meaning you don't need to drop back down to javac each time you want to compile, and then compare the results in a command window to what is in your Notepad session.

So really, would you prefer to get red squiggly lines to show you your errors as you type, or would you rather try to get it perfect first before having to run a command-line program for compilation?

That's some cool stuff. I had no idea that there were IDE's that did incremental compiling.

On the other hand, spell check made my spelling take a dive, so I had to consciously decide to stop using the right-click and replace-- hmm.

If you are learning java, I would suggest Dr. Java. It's like the elementary school version of an IDE. It does syntax highlighting, open and close brackets, and the ability to compile and run the app from it itself. And that's about it. It's really useful to actually learning Java the language, and keeps you away from Java the environment, at least for a little while…

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