How can I set the PATH variable for javac so I can manually compile my .java works?

That would be: set “PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\bin” You can also append ;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_18\bin to the PATH in the user environment dialog. That would allow you to use javac and other java tools directly form any cmd shell without setting the path first. The user environment dialog used to be somewhere in the system properties in XP, … Read more

Why and how does C# allow accessing private variables outside the class itself when it’s within the same containing class?

See section 3.5.1 of the C# language specification. The relevant text is this: Private, which is selected by including a private modifier in the member declaration. The intuitive meaning of private is “access limited to the containing type”. Note that the modifier is relevant to the type, not the instance. And then further in section … Read more