Installing an IDE
In this book, we will use NetBeans as our IDE. There are other popular IDEs too, such as Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA. You can use a different IDE if you wish. However, in this chapter, it will be assumed that you are using NetBeans. No matter which IDE you choose, the Java code will be the same. Therefore, as long as you set up the code properly, you can use any IDE for the remaining chapters. If you are fairly new to programming, then I suggest that you use NetBeans for now, and after you are more comfortable with programming, try other IDEs and choose the one that you prefer.
The NetBeans IDE can be downloaded from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/. Downloading the program from Oracle will also allow us to download the required Java Development Kit (JDK) at the same time. You will see several download links. Click on the NetBeans link to visit the JDK 8 with NetBeans download page. Once you select Accept License Agreement, you will be allowed to...