Minecraft 1.21.1 debuted for Java Edition on August 8, 2024, as a hotfix update to fix a few critical exploits that were being used to intentionally crash multiplayer servers.

2024 is a great time to start working with Java, because 2023's Java 21 release has some amazing new features. Here's how to quickly download and install the Java 21 JDK.

Java can be easy to write, compile and debug because of how it was designed. It’s also free to download and is updated regularly.

Click on the major version you want to download from the "Java SE" list. For example, choose "Java SE 6" if you want to download any version number ranging from Java 6.0 to Java 6.43.