Java Editions

[AmrMohammed]

Greetings,

I am new in Java programming language and I know that there are four platforms of the Java programming language
Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE)
Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE)
Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME)
JavaFX

I already read about the four platforms through the below link

Click Here

But what I want to make sure of it by experts here that Java EE has more packages than Java SE and Java ME has less packages than Java SE and definitely than Java EE. Also I need to know where can I find a list of these different packages.

I've downloaded the Java SE Development Kit from the linke below

Click Here

I've download the Eclipse IDE also. Can I write application(s) that connects to database or I have to download the Java EE SDK as it contains packages which in turn contains the classes by which I can connect to the database and execute queries etc. and these packages do not exist in Java SE SDK, and the same question if I want to write application(s) for a mobile device(s) do I have to download the Java ME SDK or I can begin write such application(s) without the need to download these SDK(s)?

Thanks in advance

[stultuske]

You can very easily write applications that connect to a DB using just the Java SE JDK.

but, my recommendation: if you are just starting with Java, as you say you are, you should start by learning Java. don't try to go from zero to a hundred in less then a second. sure, it's really nice going that fast, except when there's a brick wall fifty feet ahead of you.

Start with learning the language. any decent (and somewhat complete) course on the basics of Java take about a year. I 'm not saying you have to spend this much time, I am saying however, you shouldn't try to skip learning the basics.

so: don't use eclipse (or any IDE just yet) and first learn to package, compile and run small projects by command line. It's all nice if you know how to do everything in Eclipse, except of course if you come to work for someone who doesn't allow you to use eclipse. (yup, chances are, your employer 'll decide what IDE to use for you).

[AmrMohammed]

Thanks for your reply.

I am not new at programming I wrote code in C, C++, and C#, I read about Java basics before and I wrote in Java but not large scale applications (i.e. code examples within books) and I am not an expert or a professional in Java so I am asking about the differences between Java edition because it is a fundamental issue in understanding the programming language you are going to use even in many books this issue comes in first chapter always and when I read the difference between Java editions according to the above link I thought that I cannot write an application that deal with database unless I downloaded the Java EE edition, but you are now telling me that I can write such application without the need to download the Java EE edition and that confuses me about the existence of these editions if I could use the Java SE edition to write applications that deal with database and in this case, I believe that such applications are large scale applications

[JamesCherrill]

Java EE is a superset of Java SE that has tools for Enterprise-scale application development and deployment.
Java SE includes all you need to perform transactions on popular SQL databases. See the Java SE tutorials for JDBC: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/jdbc/index.html