Compiling Java

I have decided to start learning Java to help me get at least a basic understanding of what is going on. In the tutorial on the oracle website I am told to use command prompt as my way of directing my file to be compiled however it responds every time saying that javac is not a command or operable program or batch file. I have tried pointing it in the right directory and it still does not work, so I was wondering if anyone knows what I am doing wrong or if there is a better compiler I can use that is free, not on a trial and has all features available.

That same tutorial contains a page listing common problems and their solutions: Lesson: Common Problems (and Their Solutions) (The Java™ Tutorials > Getting Started)

I looked at the list of common problems and attempted to solve mine but I could not fix it.

Did you look at the link I sent you? Your error is the first one explained. We really can't tell you anything other than what it says there, at least not without more information. What part confuses you?

Now, when attempting by writing out the full path for javac, cmd responds by saying that "The system cannot find the path specified."

The path of my javac is "C:>Program Files>Java>jdk1.7.0_02>bin>javac.exe". How exactly should I write this in cmd?

PROBLEM SOLVED. I realised that I needed to use quote/speech marks to specify the directory as it contained spaces in one of the folder names.