macOS Xcode interface and Java programming

Still on XCode 2.3 on OS 10.4 here, but hopefully this is similar enough...

File->New Project...->Java section->Java Tool

The default project has a Hello, World! example in the static void main, so that should be enough to get you started.

I can't speak to setting which JDK and JVM to build against/target/etc. so someone else might have to help you out there, as I'm not sure even when you get 1.6 installed that that is the target in XCode.

-Lee

If you have the code you only have to compile and if it has no errors it will run.

The buttons in the toolbar (build, build and run) will compile and run your code for you.

or maybe use a simpler IDE... (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/development_tools/bluej.html) or check this thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/192543/

Hope this helps.

Don't call system.exit() in your program if you are working in BlueJ. It runs your program in the same VM as the IDE as a thread, so if you do the editor closes, too.

There are lots of options...
IntelliJ <Just saw this is not free, so I wouldn't consider it>
NetBeans http://www.netbeans.org/
Eclipse http://www.eclipse.org/

XCode is great, but is not cross platform. If you are using Linux at some point in the future, or Windows, you won't have XCode available, but the other IDEs mentioned will be.

If you don't already, you should learn how to compile with javac, run with java, create executable jars with jar, run them with java -jar, etc. Unlike some other things, I wouldn't discourage the use of an IDE unilaterally for Java because of the breadth of the class library, but don't let the IDE be a substitute for knowing how to do things, use it as a tool for speeding up things you could do yourself.

-Lee

If I developed in Java and wanted to use a cross platform IDE, I'd use Netbeans, no question.