my basic text editor project

need a better way to learn..

 

Good luck.

 

No offense, but making a text editor for your first program is stupid. You'll only make things worse for yourself.

Start simple, and build your way up to creating more advanced programs as your knowledge and experience increases.

To learn java, you have to make programs to demonstrate fundamental concepts. Since you say you've never made a single program before, I'm guessing that you lack understanding of these vital concepts.

 

mind explaining? im not sure what path to take in order to learn.

 

Sure.

Well, there are several paths that you could take. For example you could try and download a java ebook, learn online from tutorials, or even get a physical book from a library.

Sun's tutorials are pretty good from my experience:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/index.html

Have you got everything set up properly (IDE, compiler etc.)?

 

yes
ill prolly try looking for a e book, got any suggestions?

 

I would start with a program called "Gridworld" or "Jeroo" to learn object-oriented Java programming before you get into GUI (even terminal OS) programming.

 

ill check it out