Last Updated: 15 September, 2023
Java is a high-level, secure, and object-oriented programming (OOP) language with many built-in features such as distributedness, robustness, architecture neutrality, portability, high performance, multithreading, and many more.
Sun Microsystems created Java in 1991 and released the first public implementation as Java 1.0 in 1996.
Java supports WORA (Write Once, Run Anywhere), which means we can write and compile Java applications on one platform and run them on the same or different platforms (platform means any machine, hardware configuration, or operating system). Java applications are typically compiled into bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM), regardless of the underlying computer architecture.
Java syntax and concepts are easy and simple to learn and understand, which makes Java a simple programming language. Java's syntax is similar to other programming languages like C and C++. The code in Java is always written in the form of classes and objects.
Java is not 100% object-oriented programming (OOP) because it supports primitive data types like int, float, char, etc.
Java is used as a server-side language for back-end development, Android development, desktop computing, mobile computing, games, and numerical computing.
Currently, 3 billion devices are running on the Java platform.
James Gosling, Patrick Naughton, Chris Warth, Ed Frank, and Mike Sheridan created Java at Sun Microsystems, Inc. in 1991. Later, on Oracle Corporation's acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2009-10.
James Gosling is known as the Father of Java.
Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it was too advanced for the digital cable television industry at the time. The language was initially called Oak. Later, the project went by the name "Green" and was finally renamed "Java" in 1995.
Sun Microsystems released the first public implementation of Java 1.0 in 1996. It took 18 months to develop the first working version. It promised Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA) functionality.
The Java language was designed with object-oriented programming (OOP) in mind, as well as being simple, robust, secure, architecture-neutral, high-performance, portable, platform-independent, interpreted, threaded, and dynamic.
Sun has defined and supports four editions of Java targeting different application environments and has segmented many of its APIs so that they belong to one of the platforms. The platforms are:
The Java SE API provides the core functionality of Java. It defines everything from the basic types and objects of Java to high-level classes that are used for networking, security, database access, graphical user interface (GUI) development, and XML parsing. In addition to the core API, the Java SE platform consists of a virtual machine, development tools, deployment technologies, and other class libraries and toolkits commonly used in Java technology applications.
Like Java SE, it is also a Java platform built on top of the Java SE platform for the development of web-based applications that run on application servers and web servers. The Java EE platform provides different APIs and a run-time environment for the development of large-scale, scalable, reliable, multi-tiered, and secure network applications. Java EE technologies include Java Servlet, JSP, JSF, and Oracle ADF.
Java ME is a Java platform for applications that run on small-scale devices like cell phones. Java ME is used to develop different cell phone applications and games. Whatsapp, "a famous chat application," is also developed with Java ME. Applications developed with Java ME can run on different mobile phone operating systems like Nokia Symbian, Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, etc. The Java ME The API is a subset of the Java SE API, along with special class libraries useful for small device application development. Java ME applications are often clients of Java EE platform services.
The Java Card Edition is used for building smart cards using the Java programming language.
Java is a very popular and widely used programming language. According to Oracle, more than 3 billion devices run Java. There is a list of Java-type applications:
Java was developed by Sun Microsystems in 1991. Sun Microsystems released the first public implementation as Java 1.0 in 1996.
| Version | Release Date | Features released with Version |
|---|---|---|
| JDK Beta | 1995 | It was the 1st version, but it had unstable APIs. It was not released to the public. |
| JDK 1.0 | 23 Jan, 1996 | It was the first stable version made available to the general public. |
| JDK 1.1 | 19 Feb, 1997 | |
| J2SE 1.2 | 8 Dec, 1998 | |
| J2SE 1.3 | 8 May, 2000 | |
| J2SE 1.4 | 6 Feb, 2002 | java.util.prefs) etc. |
| J2SE 5.0 | 30 Sep, 2004 | |
| Java SE 6 | 11 Dec, 2006 | |
| Java SE 7 | 28 July, 2011 | |
| Java SE 8 (LTS) | 18 March, 2014 | |
| Java SE 9 | 21 Sep, 2017 | |
| Java SE 10 | 20 March, 2018 | |
| Java SE 11 (LTS) | 25 Sep, 2018 | |
| Java SE 12 | 19 March, 2019 | |
| Java SE 13 | 17 Sep, 2019 | |
| Java SE 14 | 17 March 2020 | |
| Java SE 15 | 15 Sep, 2020 | |
| Java SE 16 | 16 March, 2021 | |
| Java SE 17 (LTS) | 14 Sep, 2021 | |
| Java SE 18 | March 2022 | |
| LTS - Long Term Support | ||
That's all guys, hope this Java article is helpful for you.
Happy Learning... 😀
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