Installing Programming Languages

Advice on Java Installation

When Should You Install Java on Your System?

System-wide Java is only needed in these cases:

When using the java command directly in terminal
When running Java applications without IntelliJ
When Java is needed in CI/CD pipelines

How to Install Java 21 OpenJDK

If you really need it, you can easily install with Homebrew.

Open Terminal and copy-paste the following command:

(brew install openjdk@21 || true)

[!IMPORTANT] DO NOT Set JAVA_HOME Homebrew manages PATH automatically. There's no need to add export JAVA_HOME=... to .zshrc like in the old ways.

Verify Installation

After installation, check if Java is working properly.

Open Terminal and copy-paste the following command:

java --version

If you see a message similar to this, it's successful:

openjdk 21.x.x 2024-xx-xx
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Homebrew (build 21.x.x)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Homebrew (build 21.x.x, mixed mode, sharing)

[!TIP] IntelliJ IDEA automatically recognizes JDKs installed on your system. Just select from the list when creating a project.

Next Steps

All necessary tools are ready! Learn some tips for using macOS more efficiently.

Next Step: macOS Tips Collection