You need to install Java SDK on MacOS to allow a lot of applications and development tools to run in your machine. This post describes the most important installation steps to get a working Java development environment.
Download the Java SDK Package
Download the package from the Eclipse download page . You may prefer to install the Java 8 or Java 9 SDK.
Follow the steps of the Installer
After downloading and opening the .dmg
package, you need to follow the installation steps of the Java SDK installer .pkg
file:
Follow the steps of the installer wizard. At some point, you need to enter your administrator account password, to allow installing system components. Finally, the installer will write the application files to your computer. Just wait until the files are installed in your computer, and close the installer.
After that, you may be prompted to delete the installation package. You can delete it if you no longer need it.
Check your Java installation
Execute java -version
in a console window to check your java current version.
Users-MacBook:Desktop user$ java -version java version "1.8.0_191" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_191-b12) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.191-b12, mixed mode)
Also, with the Java runtime, now you have access to the Java compiler (javac
) and other java development tools, like Java documentation generator (javadoc
).
Install a Java development IDE
After installing Java JDK, now you can install your prefered Java IDE to start developing Java applications:
- Eclipse for Java: Full featured Java IDE environment with plugin support (follow this install guide).
- Netbeans for Java: Another common Java IDE with support for debugging, profiling and packaging Java applications.
- IntelliJ Idea: Another IDE with full features.
- Android Studio: For Android mobile application development, based on IntelliJ.
- Spring Boot: Java application development using a complete Java Framework with extended support for Database and Graphical user interface applications.