Testing the PATH Variable

To test the PATH variable start a new DOS command window. (You have to start a new one because any old window will use the old PATH.) Now, no matter what subdirectory you are in, if you type javac you should see something like the following:

javac is the Java compiler. There will be details on how to use it later.

If you can't figure out how to set the PATH variable, then you can put all your programs in the jdk1.5.0_06 directory and compile and run them there. This is crude, but it works.