I am in a class where we were given a program to compile and it compiled and
ran on the school computers using commands "javac" and "java" from the DOS
cmd window.

First I downloaded the J2EE, which I feel should be documented clearly that
it requires a Server, and doesn't run in Windows XP Home Edition, and
recommendations for another version that will.

In this class we were told to use version 1.5+ of J2.  The only reference I
could find to 1.5 was a beta version codenamed "tiger."  I assumed that J2SE
version 5.0 should be a later release containing the same capabilities as
version 1.5.  

After downloading what appeared to be both the J2EE latest version and the
J2SE latest version (Java Beans).  Both files were well over 150 MB and
neither contained javac.exe.  

On a positive note, it appeared that the example project set up to show the
new features of J2SE JavaBeans did compile and run properly.  However, it
seemed to be an atrocious amount of effort to create a file which says "Hello,
" and as a new user, I am completely nonplussed by the new features, as I
have not been exposed to the previous editions.

For comparison, in Basic, this program would have been something like:
10  Print "Hello"
save c:\"Hello"
Run

Of course the Basic program would have only run under very specific
circumstances, and certainly couldn't be put into an applet, but you can know
whether the "Basic SDK" works on your computer or not in just a few seconds.

This is especially frustrating to go through all these steps when so many
SDK's have undocumented incompatibilities with XP Home Edition, which you
only find out after going through hours of painful step-by-step instruction,
after compiling and running and opening up a window that says 404 not found.
(I aim this criticism more at Microsoft's SDK.

In this case, I was happy that this did not happen.  Instead of leading me
like a cow to the slaughter, this example actually led me like a cow to
something that looked a little more like a trough.  However, it wasn't the
trough I wanted, and I don't really like being led like a cow.

Anyway, my main point is that javac.exe does not appear to be in any of your
latest releases, and in the download pages, there don't seem to be any entry-
level descriptions or overview of the different releases.

Because there will be some people that want to use Java for different things:

1.  Java applets that work on the client side.
2.  Java applets that work on the server side.
3.  Java programs that can be made into executables.

I don't know what else is available, and I am only hypothesizing that J2EE,
J2SE, and J2ME have something to do with these.

Frustrated in Illinois