Hi all, I'm very, very new to Java / Javascript, but have a couple of years experience with other programming languages. - (inexperience may explain a novicey question

However, I wanted to learn a web-enabled language to capture data from certain websites to build systems for my "sports-betting" hobby.

I've only picked up Java about a week ago, but i've managed to build a couple of programs that do what i need. However, certain sites require you to "log in" before you can access pages. So whilst I can see this information myself, my little java program cannot.

For example the racing post website (www.racingpost.co.uk) i have a username: nutricomms and password: vinery (its free to register, so no real need to hide the details). I can't get my little program to access these pages.

I have no idea where to start in looking into this problem and wondered if
a) this is the correct place to ask?
b) if anyone can give me any pointers on how to solve my little problem

any help will be gratefully received.

thanks