The Yahoo Community has plenty of avid programmers, happy to help you with programming as and when you get confused. Hence you post what you have done so far, and explain the issue you wish to resolve.
Online of course there are numerous Blogs, websites, etcetera with Java Tutorials written for people wanting to learn Java. Just Google: "Java Tutorial online"
In the meanwhile it seems you are struggling with the classpath and path environment variables, so let's get that working.
For this example I will pretend:
> you downloaded a Java Development Kit (JDK) and installed it
> the version was 1.7.0
> It is a 32-bit version and is being installed on Windows 7 32-bit OS
To set up the environment variables do the following:
1. Click Start | then RIGHT click on Computer and select "Properties"
2. In window that opens, on left pane click the link: "Advanced System Settings"
3. In window that opens click on the "Environment Variables . . ." button
4. In the LOWER half of window that opens click on the "New" button
5. In the popup window enter the following:
> Next to "Variable Name:" type PATH
> Next to "Variable Value:" type .;C:\Program Files\Java\JDK1.7.0\bin
Note!!! If anything else in present in that second line, place the above to the left of that information then add a semicolon [;] after bin
6. Now click OK
7. Next in LOWER half of window click on CLASSPATH to highlight it, then click EDIT button
8. Next to "Variable Value:" type .;C:\Program Files\Java\JDK1.7.0\bin
Note!!! If anything else in present in that second line, place the above to the left of that information then add a semicolon [;] after bin
9. Click OK, then OK again, then OK again.
All done!!! Your environment variables are now set up and you ought to be able to use the Command Prompt window to compile and run programs if you so choose to.
Notes:
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If your Windows 7 is infact a 64-bit OS, but you installed a 32-bit JDK package, then for both the PATH and CLASSPATH "Variable Value:" type:
.;C:\Program Files (x86) \Java\JDK1.7.0\bin
If you installed a different version number the only thing that changes is the 1.7.0, the JDK still stays there.
The only exception to this, would be had you only installed a Java Runtime Environment, then the JDK would become JRE followed by the version number. However, its the JDK you need if you wish to program and compile and run on your Windows 7 pc.