Initial Setup

The steps here will walk you through setting up a repository that you'll use to study example code, work on studios, and complete your first assignment of this unit.

Create a copy of the LaunchCodeEducation / java-exercises repo on GitHub by visiting the repository page and clicking on the Fork button below your profile picture at the top right.
Open IntelliJ.
- If the app opens up to an existing project, select IntelliJ > Preferences > Appearance & Behavior > System Settings and uncheck Reopen last project on startup. (For Windows users: File > Settings > Appearance & Behavior > System Settings.) Close and Reopen IntelliJ.
From the "Welcome to IntelliJ" dialog, select Check out from Version Control > GitHub
The first time you use GitHub within IntelliJ you'll have to configure IntelliJ to use your GitHub Account. We recommend taking the extra step of authenticating using a token. This takes only one brief extra step, and will prevent you from having to update IntelliJ settings if you ever change your GitHub password.
From the project selection dialog, select the java-exercises repository, along with an appropriate source destination directory (i.e. a folder where you've stored other projects for this class).
When asked "Would you like to create and IDEA project..." select Yes, and then accept all of the default options that are presented.

With that, you're ready to go!

Here's a video walking through the last 4 steps above:

Troubleshooting

ClassNotFoundException

If you experience java.lang.ClassNotFoundException when trying to run code after setting up the project, follow these steps:

Select File > Close Project
From the IntelliJ modal window, click the X next to java-exercises in the left-hand pane.
From the same modal window, select Import Project from the right-hand pane.
Follow the steps that IntelliJ guides you through, accepting all defaults. When prompted to overwrite IntelliJ settings files, you confirm that you want to do so.