Error catching java makefile

Question

I'm creating a makefile to compile numerous .java files, then run one of them (which requires the others).
The problem is: when the compiler returns an error, the makefile still runs the program --> which i don't want it to do.
How can i catch such errors, preventing the makefile from continuing?
Code so far:
javac Planets.java
echo "Planets compiled."
javac Params.java
echo "Params compiled."
javac SolarSystem.java
echo "SolarSystem Compiled."
echo "Running SolarSystem..."
"

Answer 1

Never heard of Ant, sorry.
I'm on a mac, op from terminal?
(if you can't tell i'm a rookie)To begin with you can compile and run your programs from the terminal.
(Look for a decent text editor that integrates a terminal interface. I have no idea about Mac: I use TextPad on Windows and linux, and my preference is Kate on the latter.)
IIRC javac doesn't return a value to indicate whether or not compiler time errors caused some classes not to be compiled. So If you are trying to detect that I suppose you would have to delete the class files and check for their existance after running javac. This is a lot more trouble than using a ready made tool to control the build process.
Ant is very good - the documentation describes how you can do simple tasks very simply.