Newbie : Any new participant in some activity.
Java : Programming language.
Software :(computing) written programs, procedures or rules and associated documentation pertaining to the operation of a computer system and that are stored in read/write memory

What is Java?

Java is:

Object Oriented
Platform independent:
Simple
Secure
Architectural- neutral
Portable
Robust
Multi-threaded
Interpreted
High Performance
Distributed
Dynamic .. Programming Language.

Java Environment Setup:

Java SE is freely available from the link Download Java. So you download a version based on your operating system.

You can refere to installation guide for a complete detail.

JavaTM Platform, Standard Edition Development Kit (JDKTM)
You need to accept the licence agreements before downloading the JDK.
You must accept the OTN License Agreement to download this software.

link :

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk-6u25-download-346242.html

Operating System :

Java is a platform-independent programming language but JVM (Java Virtual Machine)

Any Operating system will do but Windows is user friendly and Programmers prefer Linux OS.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IN/windows7/products/home

IDE :: Integrated development environment

Also known as integrated design environment or integrated debugging environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development.

It consist of

* Source code editor

* Compiler and/or interpreter

* Build automation tools

* Debugger

**Though using eclipse and Netbeans will affect your basics as it prompts for help and suggestions .. sometimes you will correct the errors and you won't even know what you have corrected ...

Some Examples :

Netbeans IDE

Eclipse IDE

links :

http://netbeans.org/index.html

http://netbeans.org/downloads/start.html?platform=windows&lang=en&option=all

http://plugins.netbeans.org/PluginPortal/

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

Server :

Need to run Java servlets and JSPs in the @localhost and also in remote servers .

Example:

Apache, otherwise known as Apache HTTP Server, is an
established standard in the online distribution of website services, which gave
the initial boost for the expansion of the World Wide Web. It is an open-source
web server platform, which guarantees the online availability of the majority of
the websites active today.

These servers are also available in Netbeans IDE check the checkbox while installing Netbeans.

Link :

http://tomcat.apache.org/download-70.cgi