Is there a free GUI software to compile Java

Question

I am a total total beginner in Java actually I am .net dev trying to fix something in java. I think I have fixed it however I need to compile the files. I have used the dos javac etc... but i never seem to get it right. I have 20 files to compile.

Any suggestions on a gui?

Answer 1

First I would highly recommend you get it to work with the command line. While the command line does seam to have fallen out of favour with developers these days I consider it a key skill. Many an awkward job can be significantly simplified if you know the tools at your disposal. But more importantly if you have a problem with the "GUI" tools and you don't know the basics of what is going on under the hood you will have a real problem fixing it. So what problems are you having compiling the software on the command line? If I have read you question incorrectly and you are not having problems compiling software, but are simply looking for a better method of going about it:

A "GUI" for Java development is commonly called a IDE (Integrated Development Environment). This is more than a simple GUI round compiling Java files (but you can use it that way) but also project file management, highlighting and the such like. The big three in the Java world are: Eclipse, Netbeans and IntelliJ Idea (the latter of which has freeware and payware versions, the rest are only freeware).

But that is not the end of the story if you are looking at making your build process better. What you also want to be looking at is automation (this was covered in the Pragmatic Starter Kit Series). This will allow you to build, test and maybe even deploy via a script. You can simply use a .bat file but this can be rather awkward. Java has three main players in this area: ant, Maven and Gradle.