Continuing the Tutorial with the NetBeans IDE

The next few pages of the tutorial will explain the code in this simple application. After that, the lessons go deeper into core language features and provide many more examples. Although the rest of the tutorial does not give specific instructions about using the NetBeans IDE, you can easily use the IDE to write and run the sample code. The following are some tips on using the IDE and explanations of some IDE behavior that you are likely to see:
Once you have created a project in the IDE, you can add files to the project using the New File wizard. Choose File New File, and then select a template in the wizard, such as the Empty Java File template.
You can compile and run an individual file (as opposed to a whole project) using the IDE's Compile File (F9) and Run File (Shift-F6) commands. If you use the Run Main Project command, the IDE will run the file that the IDE associates as the main class of the main project. Therefore, if you create an additional class in your HelloWorldApp project and then try to run that file with the Run Main Project command, the IDE will run the HelloWorldApp file instead.
You might want to create separate IDE projects for sample applications that include more than one source file.
As you are typing in the IDE, a code completion box might periodically appear. You can either ignore the code completion box and keep typing, or you can select one of the suggested expressions. If you would prefer not to have the code completion box automatically appear, you can turn off the feature. Choose Tools Options, click the Editor tab, and clear the Auto Popup Completion Window checkbox.
If you try to rename the node for a source file in the Projects window, the IDE prompts you with the Rename dialog box to lead you through the options of renaming the class and the updating of code that refers to that class. Click Next to display the Refactoring window, which contains a tree view of changes to be made. Then click Do Refactoring to apply the changes. This sequence of clicks might seem unnecessary if you have just a single class in your project, but it is very useful when your changes affect other parts of your code in larger projects.
For a more thorough guide to the features of the NetBeans IDE, see the NetBeans IDE Docs and Support page or explore the documentation available from the IDE's Help menu.