What is the location path to Java JDK 8?

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Level 2

251 points

What is the location path to Java JDK 8?

Hi there,

My son is interested in mucking about with Java, mainly to try his hand at writing Minecraft mods. We downloaded the Java JDK 8 from the Oracle site, and it seemed to install correctly. But for the life of me, I can't (a) open it and (b) even find it. I've tried a Spotlight and Finder search, but no love.

Can someone please tell me where the Java JSK 8 lives in the OS? And how I can access/open it? (Or is this a situation where we'll be using Terminal?) My son is on a late 2016 entry level 13" Macbook Pro running the latest version of Sierra.

Thanks!

Posted on May 22, 2017 1:56 PM

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Answer 1

etresoft

Level 9

57,470 points

May 22, 2017 2:02 PM in response to Maggot

Hello Maggot,

It looks like it gets installed into:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_131.jdk/Contents/Home

That is the path that you would assign to the JAVA_HOME environment variable. You would probably also want to add "/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_131.jdk/Contents/Home/bin" to the user's PATH environment variable.

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Answer 2

May 22, 2017 3:25 PM in response to Maggot

There are many online Java courses, https://www.google.com/search?q=java+tutorials&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8. I found this free course easy to follow and use.

https://www.sololearn.com/

And as already stated, you don't "open" Java you use its libraries from within an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). There are several IDE's including Eclipse, https://eclipse.org/, NetBeans, https://netbeans.org/, etc. I prefer NetBeans.

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Answer 3

May 22, 2017 2:00 PM in response to Maggot

JDK is a set of libraries and what-not; to write and compile programs, you need a JRE (Java runtime environment) like Eclipse: https://www.eclipse.org/downloads/.

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Answer 4

Maggot Author

Level 2

251 points

May 22, 2017 3:13 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123

Thanks, stevejobsfan2013! I had no idea. Will install ASAP and try it out.

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Answer 5

Maggot Author

Level 2

251 points

May 22, 2017 3:14 PM in response to etresoft

Thanks very much etresoft, will take a look there — I installed twice. I'm assuming the second install simply overwrote the original, but I'll take a look and see if things got doubeld up.

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Answer 6

Maggot Author

Level 2

251 points

May 22, 2017 4:51 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

This is all incredibly helpful — thanks very much, BobTheFisherman!

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