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An object-oriented, write-once, run-anywhere programming language.

Summary

Java is a statically typed, object-oriented programming language developed in 1995 by Sun Microsystems as an easy-to-learn, "write once, run anywhere" alternative to other "curly bracket" languages such as C++.

Java was one of the early languages in the "object-oriented" fad. Though C++ was older, Java was revolutionary in that it was developed from the ground up so that the programmer would be able to work entirely in the object-oriented paradigm, paying no attention to the underlying computer system or to the implementation details of other coders' libraries. This was made possible by the JVM, which is a piece of software made by Sun. The JVM (Java Virtual Machine) ran on the real computer's OS. The Java program ran on the JVM. All Java programs were compiled into a special format that ran on the JVM, so that programmers would only need to know how the JVM worked - not recompile the program for use with Macs, PCs, and UNIX boxes.

Hello World

import java.util.*;

public class HelloWorld
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    }
}


Things Java does

• Run in web browsers, when compiled into "applet" form;
• Simplifies development of business object-oriented software with the use of "beans;"

Things Java does not do

• Multiple inheritance, though this is overcome to an extent by the usage of interfaces;
• Operator overloading;

Origins

Java, while not compatible with them, is derived syntactically from C++ and C and in fact the goal of James Gosling was to create a language which resembles C++ and utilizes a virtual machine.

Java was originally named "Oak," after a large oak tree outside the inventor's window. Turns out that another language was already named Oak, so the dev team adopted "Java," in honor of the coffee that powered their coding sessions.

Current status

Java is still one of the more popular languages nowadays, being used for development in a number of areas including mobile and web applications.

Sun was bought by Oracle, the database giant, in 2010. Oracle acquired not only Sun's Solaris operating system, but also Java. Oracle greatly revised the Java development timeline, which shook up the developer community - Sun had essentially stalled on developing Java, whereas Oracle intends to greatly improve the speed and utility of the language.

Beans, which are an extension of the language, allow developers to quickly build object-oriented business software by assembling "beans," which are Java objects, in a specific manner to define their interaction.

Java is used as the basis of the Jython interpreter. Visual J++, Microsoft's clone of Java, was the the progenitor to C#.

JavaScript is not based on Java.

Facts

Related Pages

Lisp

Minecraft

Oracle

Runescape

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