Day 1/90: Java setup & environment

90 Day Java Challenge: Zero to Production

Today I wanted java setup & environment to feel like a real engineering decision, not a syntax demo. The useful shift was getting the JDK, IDE, and build workflow into a repeatable state from the first run.

The checks that mattered were module and package layout, repeatable build and test commands, and defaults that future code can live with.

The failure mode I was actively trying to avoid was treating solution shape as disposable and rebuilding the same skeleton every week. I wanted java setup & environment to feel like something I could explain at a whiteboard or in a code review, not just something I recognized from docs.

That is the bar I want from this track: code that stays readable when requirements move, not just code that compiles today. I also want to keep tracing one concrete path through the code because that exposes weak assumptions faster than a larger demo.