Thread: Beginner Developer with Basic Computer Requirement Questions

I am not a developer or programmer myself, however, my son is in a robotics class in his school and they are using Java in their class. He has expressed an interest in learning more on his own and I would like to get him a computer so that he can do this. This is to be a surprise so I'm trying not to ask him what he wants.

I have looked at a number of resources for online learning, and now I'm on to hardware. So, here are my first questions. Thank you for helping me out.

1. Are there system requirements that optimize learning Java?
2. Will he need to install any special software, such as some kind of interpreter or server software?

Thank you for any suggestions.

Thank you, Norm.

Can Java run by itself? For instance, as I understand if you want to build a webpage with Javascript you need to put it inside the HTML. Do you need to do such a thing with Java?

Thank you!