Once you're done reading this document, you'll know how to set up the Java Runtime Environment and Eclipse on your Windows PC.
Before reading any further in this section, you'll want to check to see if you already have the JRE installed – there's a good chance you already do! Open the Control Panel and go to Add or Remove Programs. If you see something like Java(TM) 6 in the list of installed programs, that means you already have the JRE. In this case, you can just skip ahead to the next section. Look at the screenshot below, the circled entry is what I had installed:
If the JRE isn't listed in the currently installed programs, then read on! You'll want to go to www.java.com, where you'll be confronted with this page:
Depending on what web browser you're using, it may look a little differently than the screenshot above shows. However, the See all Java downloads here link (circled in the screenshot) should be somewhere on the page. That's the one we're interested in.
Clicking that link will take you this page. Now you'll want the Windows 7/XP/Vista/2000/2003/2008 Offline link. Clicking this will prompt you to download an installer.
Once the installer finishes downloading, you should run it. It's a fairly standard Windows installer, and you can accept most of the defaults. Look at the series of screenshots below to see what you'll be going through:
They tried to slip this one in there. I'd recommend unchecking the Yes, I want Bing Toolbar for Internet Explorer box.
At this point, you now have the JRE installed on your system. Now you can safely go on to the next step . . .
Now we get to the main point of this walk–through – installing Eclipse. You'll want to point your browser to www.eclipse.org.
The link to download it is exactly where you'd expect – just follow the Downloads link (in the main navigation, circled in the above screencap.)
The version we want is Eclipse IDE for Java Developers. You'll notice it's the second one on the list. If you're sure you have a 64 bit system, you can go ahead and download the Windows 64 Bit version. If you're not sure, Windows 32 Bit (circled) is the safe choice – it should run on 32 or 64 bit systems.
Clicking either the 32 or 64 bit link will take you to a page like the one above. The mirror it selects will be random – you can see that they gave me an Amazon server (circled) to download from. Whatever mirror they give you, it'll be in that same place on the page. Clicking on that will prompt you to download a .zip file.
When the file finishes downloading, you'll want to open it. You'll see it contains an eclipse folder. You can copy this folder wherever you want – just don't forget where you put it! In the screenshot below, I'm just copying it over to the My Documents folder.
Once the folder finishes copying to your chosen location, you want to open it. You'll notice it contains a bunch of files and some other folders. I'm sure you can guess which thing we're interested in ;-) (circled in the screenshot below.) Go ahead and double click on it.
The first thing Eclipse asks you to do is select a workspace. What it gives as a default is fine. You can even check the Use this as the default and do not ask again box if you want so it never prompts you for this again.
Next you'll be confronted with the screen below. Click on the Workbench icon (circled) to get to the main Eclipse window.
Now you should be staring at the screen shown below. Congratulations! You're now ready to begin writing programs on your own computer!
