Known for its concurrent and object-oriented nature, Java embodies the concept of “write once, run everywhere.” Originally developed by Sun Microsystems and later acquired by Oracle, Java has evolved into a comprehensive platform with a wide range of standard and open source APIs, along with a thriving developer community.
What is Java?
Java is a popular programming language created in 1995 and is owned by Oracle. It is widely used to develop a wide variety of applications. One of the key reasons to use Java is its platform independence as it can run on different platforms such as Windows, Mac, Linux, and Raspberry Pi. This feature makes Java one of the most popular programming languages in the world. It is also open source, secure, fast, and powerful. Java is an object-oriented language that provides a clear structure to programs and allows the code to be reusable and maintainable. It is known for its robustness, security, and high performance, making it suitable for a wide range of applications including scientific and enterprise-level applications.
Java is known for its simplicity, ease of learning, and ease of use, making it a popular choice for beginners and experienced programmers alike. Java’s platform independence, high demand in the job market, and strong community support make it a valuable skill for developers. It is also dynamic and extensible, allowing it to adapt to its evolving environment and support dynamic linking of new class libraries, objects, and methods. Additionally, Java supports distributed computing, making it suitable for developing applications that can run on multiple systems in a network.
Brief history of Java
In 1991, anticipating that microprocessors would have a profound influence on consumer electronics, Sun Microsystems provided funding for an internal corporate research effort known as ‘Green’. One result of this initiative was the development of a language, based on C and C++, which was named ‘Oak’ by its creator, James Gosling, who was inspired by an oak tree outside his window at Sun. It was later renamed ‘Java’.
Project Green was not without its setbacks. Demand for smart consumer electronics did not grow as rapidly as Sun had anticipated. However, a stroke of luck intervened when the popularity of the World Wide Web increased in 1993 and the Sun team recognized Java’s immediate potential for creating web pages with dynamic content. This development breathed new life into the project.
Java was officially introduced by Sun at a conference in 1995 and quickly gained the interest of the business community, due to the commercial interest in the World Wide Web. Unlike academic languages such as Pascal or those designed for localized use, such as C or C++, Java had been designed specifically for commercial applications. This strategic design, coupled with the growing impact of the World Wide Web, generated an overwhelming surge of interest within the business community.
Key Features of Java
- Platform Independence: Java is known for its platform independence, which allows programs to run on different machines as long as there is a Java Runtime Environment (JRE). This makes it compatible with various devices including mobile phones, Linux PCs, macOS, Windows, etc.
- Object Oriented: Java is an object-oriented programming language, where everything is treated as an object. It supports all the concepts of object-oriented programming such as abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.
- Simple: Java is designed to be easy to learn, with a simple, clean, and easy-to-understand syntax. It eliminates the complexities of languages like C/C++ and is familiar to those with C/C++ experience.
- Robust and Secure: Java is known for its robustness and security features, making it a popular choice for enterprise-grade applications. It provides a robust and vibrant ecosystem for programmers.
- Multithreading: Java uses multiple threads to execute different blocks of code of the same program in parallel, allowing multiple tasks to run simultaneously. This improves CPU and main memory utilization.
- High Performance: Java is known for its high performance, which makes it suitable for a wide range of applications, including scientific ones.
- Dynamic and extensible: It can adapt to your evolving environment and allows dynamic linking of new class libraries, objects, and methods.
- Distributed: Java supports distributed computing, allowing the development of applications that can run on multiple systems in a network.
