I'm aiming to learn more Java, and in preparation decided to replace Java 8 with Java 10 on my Windows 10 laptop.

The first time through the installer, I only got the JRE and not the full JDK. Then I removed my old JDK installations via Windows' add-and-remove-programs utility and re-installed the JDK software via Oracle's bundle.

The second time I got the full JDK, but a check of java and javac on the Windows command line showed java working but javac not.

A quick Googling brought up a Stack Overflow question (and answer) that told me I had to add the JDK to my Windows path.

Once I did that, javac worked. Since the JDK comes from Oracle with a GUI installer, even if I somehow missed the checkbox where the installer modifies my system's path, having to Google and then do this manually is a messy ending to installing the JDK. If I'm installing the JDK, I want it in my path, and that should be the default.

It's an unnecessary hurdle for new programmers or people who aren't the best amateur sysadmin.

Since I installed the JDK instead of the JRE, I didn't know if automatic Java updates would come at all and would cover the development portion of the tools.

I got the update today, and as you can see from the image above of my Windows command line, all is updated.

Today I started playing with Java arrays.

I'm also trying to figure out JavaScript objects at the same time.

(The Javascript is for a project I'm cooking up. I'll focus when I'm ready to focus.)

Time has been a little tight over the past couple of weeks, but I had an "opening" today that I used to work on Java. Beginning Java. Very beginning Java.

I'm using the Oracle Java tutorials. You can download the whole thing as HTML in a .zip, or as epub and mobi files.

I have both the full HTML and the mobi version, which is made up of 20 separate .mobi files that I emailed to my Amazon Kindle reader because a) I'm too lazy to plug it in to the computer and b) they offer e-mail-to-Kindle, so why not use it.

I'm going through the material slowly, typing in the programs when that seems appropriate and using javac to compile and java to run them.

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