API is Application Programming Interface.

When I write a program, I can also provide a set of API functions so when other developers/programmers want to use my program, they may just call those API I provided.

The definition of "Java API" is quite broad.  I am not sure what exactly you want to ask.  It can be a set of API for accessing another Java program, but it can also be a set of API for accessing another program written in other languages.  The bottomline is, the API is written in Java so that Java programmers can include the API calls in their codes to access other programs.

Please correct if I was wrong.

J2SE = Java2 Standard Edition
J2EE = Java2 Enterprise Edition

其實就好似 Windows XP 有 Home Edition, Professional Edition 咁﹐J2SE 同  J2EE 大家都係 Java 2 既 package﹐但 J2EE 就多左好多 API 呀果 d。  如果您只係寫下普通 website (servlets/JSP...etc.) 或者 獨立 Java programs﹐咁 J2SE 就已足夠﹐亦可以使用一 d 免費既 Servlet Engine (Tomcat 係一個較普遍既例子)。 但如果您想玩到 EJB (Enterprise Java Bean) 呀果 d﹐就要裝 J2EE 勒﹐而您亦需要裝有一個 Application Server 例如 WebLogic, Websphere, JBoss...等。

通常係 d 商業或者大機構或大型網站先會用到 J2EE。

您亦會常常見到 "JDK" 呢個 term﹐JDK 就係 Java Development Kit﹐即係成 set 野俾 programmer 下載﹐其中已包括您所需要既野﹐例如 J2SE 既 APIs...等等。 您可以去以下網頁 d/l 個 JDK 5.0 Update 9 with NetBeans 5.0﹐佢種跟埋 NetBeans 呢個幾籍得推薦既 programming editor 添!

http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

安裝方面﹐都係跟 instruction 就得架喇。

咁呢個NetBeans係唔係好似VB咁，可以編程架？

係呀可以編程架﹐不過就唔係 visual tool 黎 (好似唔係)﹐即係唔會可以畫 d buttons 呀果 d﹐但有好多野都會同 JDK 配合﹐方便編寫 Java。

明白，咁我down黎試下先！

Sorry but i have to correct mickeyGoUp. Netbeans is a visual tool. You can add a JFrame Form into you project and draw component on it.

Thank you!  

I think you are right!  Just that I am not a GUI person so I didn't touch that part much.

Are you a java programmer also?  

You cant call me a java programmer (yet) I am finishing my degree bachelor of ICT (Software Engineer) after that I will do a master degree. I think only let people do hello world in this topic is a bit useless. I suggest you to make tutorials (for Netbeans/eclipse) and let them feel what they can do (draw buttons, editbox field etc and some code).

Thanks for your suggestions.  I have thought of posting more tutorials too.  But I have been too busy to do that, and there are tons of free tutorials out there.  So right now this board is more for discussion.  Or if someone has a problem to solve, we can talk about it here and try to solve it together.  Hopefully some day I will have the time to create my own little tutorials for members to read.  

When I went to college, java wasn't popular yet so they did not teach us java.  So what do you guys use in school?  eclipse?  Running on solaris or linux?  Do you learn any J2EE stuffs? If so, what app server are they running?  I am just curious.  

We are using Netbeans. I think it is one of the up coming IDE at the moment. Also because it is develope by sun. And about the tutorial I mean chinese tutorials. I saw your early posts, You can type (write) chinese. I cant I can only read them. Our next project will be using Java Enterprise Beans. So I am looking forward to that. Up untill now I think we are learning just basic things and learning OO Programming. We are doing C++. Delphi and Java as programming language.