Sidenote: Integrated Development Environments

Yes, yes, I started off some posts showing DOS screens and command lines, but you know what?  You don't need to mess around with that stuff if you don't want to.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing to understand command lines, it's certainly not...  But it isn't absolutely necessary if you wish to learn Java syntax, object oriented programming, and how to build systems.

So don't make your life difficult.  Hit up Google and look for eclipse, or IntelliJ, or NetBeans (there are others, like Codenvy that you could conceivably use from a Chromebook or something).  Install one of these and you can begin to play.  They'll help you avoid errors in syntax, they'll help you look up class and method names, they'll automatically insert required syntax, and they'll show you where you screwed up so you can fix it.  Heck, they'll even offer to fix many common errors for you and usually get it right.

And you won't even have to pay for most of them.  What's not to love about that?