This is good stuff. The explanation of what PATH and CLASSPATH do was useful.

As a Java programmer in a college IT department, I''ve worked with quite a few college interns (and also have been approached by fellow co-workers who want to try Java.) They would usually take a college-level Java course or try self-study, but are quite scared to start on their own. Thus, the usual question is "What should I do first?" Many of them expect some magic IDE and are quite surprised with an answer that a pure Notepad would be enough :)
This lesson (and the series as a whole) would provide an invaluable help to the students and guide them step-by-step into the Java world. It contains examples which are easy to follow and understand. Such useful approach can make more people say "Hey, I can do this! Let me try further..." and attract new developers into our community.

Hi J.D,

I agree with you, object-oriented nature is important. But if I start with explaining OOP to people with different backgrounds, I''ll lose a half of my students right away. Guess what? I usually do this on the lesson #2 :)

Regards,
Yakov Fain

What''s here is ok, but it ignores the object-oriented nature of the Java programming language. IMHO, the proper approach to Hello World in Java is a version published by Shengyang Shong (I forget where). This version of Hello World had a class with a main called SayHello that instantiated a Mouth that had a say() method that printed "hello". This example can be expanded, introducing constructors for the Mouth and overloaded say() methods.

J.D.