To use Java for Kids, you should be comfortable working within the Microsoft Windows Vista, or the Windows 7/8 operating system environment.  You will also need know how to find files, move windows, resize windows, etc.  The course material should be understandable to kids aged 12 and up. No previous programming experience is needed.   If your student has previous programming experience, they can start this course as early as 10 years old with a parent or teacher’s assistance.  You will also need the ability to view and print documents saved in the Acrobat PDF format.

You also need to have the current Java Development Kit (JDK) and the current version of NetBeans, the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) we use with this course.  In previous editions of this textbook we used the JCreator IDE but we have switched to the Netbeans 8 IDE as Xinox no longer publishes a free shareware version of the JCreator IDE.  

Complete download and installation instructions for the JDK and NetBeans are found in the Appendix (Installing Java and NetBeans) included with these notes.