DrJava Installation with Java SE 8 JDK

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DrJava is an integrated development environment (IDE) for writing, compiling and debugging programs in the Java programming language. This documentation is focused only on getting DrJava running, other documentation is available at the end of this post.

NOTE: (1/25/2017) The documentation has been updated to reflect the use of only Java JDK 8.

NOTE: (9/7/2015) The Mac version of DrJava has been removed from this documentation. Although you can still download it from Sourceforge, you cannot use JDK 8 with the Mac version. These have been updated to allow you to use JDK 8.

Step One

Answer two short questions:

  1. Is your operating system Windows, Mac or Linux?
  2. If it's Windows or Linux, is your operating system 32- or 64-bit?

Step Two

Visit Oracle to download the latest version of Java SE 8 JDK for your specific operating system. Both 32- and 64-bit versions are available for nearly every platform.

Install the Java SE JDK on your operating system according to the manufacturers recommendations.

Step Three

Download the DrJava IDE for Windows, Mac or Linux.

Windows users can simply double click the program and it will launch.

Mac and Linux users can run the following command in the directory where the JAR file lives: java -jar drjava.jar

Step Four

Read further:

DrJava User Documentation

Java 8 API