what is a symlink

[Sara Vasquez]

Hey:
I have run into a wall I posted my question in the forum, but no lick so 
maybe someone here can help me.
I want to install processing
www.processing.org
but when I open it is a shell script when i run the shell scrip I 
receive a message telling me that i need to unistall the version of 
jikes taht come with the package.
How do I find what the installation installed.
Also the only help they have is this
http://processing.org/faq/platforms.html#linux
where I am directed to make a symlink for the Java and the jikes folder, 
but the problem is that i din;t know what is a symlink or how to make 
one. maybe someone can tell em waht it is.
thanks for your replies