thanks for the reply
i guess the runtime environment is the "java virtual machine"?
i found the javac.exe, it is present in the j2sdk1.4.2_04 directory,
will i have to compile all .java files from the j2sdk1.4.2_04/bin directory?
i guess intalling netbeans does not mean that i have installed the javac compiler, correct?
where can i add 'java' and 'javac' to the PATH environment variable.