Well, to first develop in java you're going to need to get the JDK - easily obtainable from Oracle's site. Assuming that automatically adds to the classpath (sometimes it doesn't seem to), you should be fine to compile / run via a command-prompt. After that - I've personally got used to using an IDE but it can become too much of a dependency at times. ;) Personally, I use NetBeans, others that are strongly recommended are Eclipse and IntelliJ's IDEA. Really that comes down to personal preference a lot of the time, but I found Eclipse a bit... 'clunky', whereas NetBeans was quite nice and a more standardised interface - they'll all work though! On a side-note: Entering my second year in a week's time, we started with Java in the first year. :P What type of course is it?