that is correct. you don't have to have the devtools installed to compile java, since the jdk (java developer kit) is installed in the base system. I suggest typing "javac" on the command line to get more information about how to compile (basically is just "javac ClassName.java" but there's a lot more to it).
Other good java commands are "jar" (installed with java) for packaging java-classes and other stuff in neat archives, and ant (get it at http://jakarta.apache.org/ant) which is a utility for automating java builds (much like make, but better).