Downloading and Installing Java

Before we start using Java, we need to download and install it. This should be easy, but newcomers can get confused sometimes. So, here are step-by-step instructions:

1. go to: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
2. Click on the "Download" button next to "JDK 6u1"
3. Click on the choice box on the left of "Accept"
4. Click on the first link: Windows Offline Installation, Multi-language
and save the file to the disk.
5. Double-click on the file and follow instructions to install Java.

A book for kids to learn Java

There are plenty of books available that teach Java programming but hardly anything that is written with kids in mind. Here is one book that specifically focuses on kids, and looks promising. Best of all, it is available as a free download. Here is the link:

http://www.smartdataprocessing.com/JavaKid811.pdf

I will use this book as the main textbook for this blog. You should plan to do all the exercises that book has. I think if you finish the book, you will be ready as a good programmer, and then work towards becoming a great one.

Welcome to my blog about learning Java

The purpose of this blog is to teach Java to my nephew Gagan who lives in Delhi, India and is about 14 years old. Gagan is very bright, computer savvy, but knows very little about computer programming. Gagan aspires to become a software engineer, and wants to learn Java, but does not know where to start. In this blog, I will take him on a path to learn step by step, often in greater details than necessary. If you have a kid, aged 10 to 15, who is like Gagan, you might find it useful as well. If you have any advice to improve this process, share them as comments to this blog.