Java developers

Hi, I am taking Java in a technical college and was
wondering if I should download some other software to practice
using java with. I mean right now in school we just seemed to be
focused on writing programs on a windows platform, and I KNOW that
when I get out in the real world there will be some OTHER software
used in conjunction with other than just the programming language!
What should I get in my tool kit? What would be some programs I need
to know my way around in that my school doesn't have.
(We just write programs in note-pad or blue J) for windows! This doesen't seem sufficient!

this is my first programming class ever so bear with me if this question seems totally stupid...

on a lab assignment i am working on it asks you to "add statements to the program to concatenate the digits in the new base to basBNum and then print the answer...

You can check out the actual assignment here:

http://www.csee.usf.edu/~cop2510/labs/ch2/sec2.3-2.4/BaseConvert.html

What I don't understand is how to concatenate that into the String baseBNum??

- first off
String baseBNum = new String ("");
what the hell does that mean?? i understand the new operator creates the object, but I don't understand why the ("") are there?

I just don't get how to assign those numbers to the baseBNum