Java is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. It is widely-used to develop IOT appliances, Android apps, web, and enterprise applications. This article will provide a quick guide to install and configure your workstation using OpenJDK.

Installing the compiler and tools

Installing the compiler, or Java Development Kit (JDK), is easy to do in Fedora. At the time of this article, versions 8 and 9 are available. Simply open a terminal and enter:

sudo dnf install java-1.8.0-openjdk-devel

This will install the JDK for version 8. For version 9, enter:

sudo dnf install java-9-openjdk-devel

For the developer who requires additional tools and libraries such as Ant and Maven, the Java Development group is available. To install the suite, enter:

sudo dnf group install "Java Development"

To verify the compiler is installed, run:

javac -version

The output shows the compiler version and looks like this:

javac 1.8.0_162

Compiling applications

You can use any basic text editor such as nano, vim, or gedit to write applications. This example provides a simple “Hello Fedora” program.

Open your favorite text editor and enter the following:

public class HelloFedora { public static void main (String[] args) { System.out.println("Hello Fedora!"); } }

Save the file as HelloFedora.java. In the terminal change to the directory containing the file and do:

javac HelloFedora.java

The compiler will complain if it runs into any syntax errors. Otherwise it will simply display the shell prompt beneath.

You should now have a file called HelloFedora, which is the compiled program. Run it with the following command:

java HelloFedora

And the output will display:

Hello Fedora!

Installing an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Some programs may be more complex and an IDE can make things flow smoothly. There are quite a few IDEs available for Java programmers including:

However, one of the most popular open-source IDE’s, mainly written in Java, is Eclipse. Eclipse is available in the official repositories. To install it, run this command:

sudo dnf install eclipse-jdt

When the installation is complete, a shortcut for Eclipse appears in the desktop menu.

For more information on how to use Eclipse, consult the User Guide available on their website.

Browser plugin

If you’re developing web applets and need a plugin for your browser, IcedTea-Web is available. Like OpenJDK, it is open source and easy to install in Fedora. Run this command:

sudo dnf install icedtea-web

As of Firefox 52, the web plugin no longer works. For details visit the Mozilla support site at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/npapi-plugins?as=u&utm_source=inproduct.

Congratulations, your Java development environment is ready to use.