JAVA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION TO THE JAVA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

The Java programming language is a flexible, object-oriented and high-level programming language generally used for developing applications, varying from mobile and web apps to corporation software, games and more.

Who developed Java?

The Java programming language was developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990’s. The language is named after a slang term for coffee.

The Java language has been enhanced to facilitate programming on the web since 1995. Since then it has become one of the most popular languages, especially for web programming.

Java was later acquired by the Oracle Corporation.

Why is Java unique?

• One reason for Java’s stylishness is that it is platform independent:

This means that the same compiled program can run effectively on any computer in the world. This reason sets Java apart from most other programming languages, which require different compilers for different operating systems.

For example, a C++ program compiled on a UNIX machine won’t run on a Windows machine.
Besides its convenience and efficiency

Platform independence has another big advantage for programs that run on a network.

A Java compiled program can be stored on a single server and client machines of any type can easily download and run the program. Java manages this by compiling its source code into a generic bytecode language, which the client machine runs using a program called a Java virtual machine (JVM). Like the source code itself, bytecodes are independent of the type of computer system. The same bytecode file can be used by any computer.
Most web browsers (Netscape’s Communicator, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, etc.) come bundled with the JVM. So when you load a web page that includes instructions to run a Java program, the browser automatically downloads the bytecode file and runs the JVM on it. All you see are the results on your web page: animated images, data entry forms, buttons, scroll panes, check boxes, etc.
The JVM system is an interpreter. That means that it translates and runs each bytecode instruction separately, whenever it is needed by the complete program. For some programs, this can be quite slow. As an alternative, Java provides local compilers for each system that will compile a bytecode file into an executable image for faster running.

Java calls these compilers “Just-In-Time” (JT) compilers. They come bundled with some web browsers (e.g., Netscape).

• Another reason for Java’s stylishness include its support for true object-oriented programming
• It’s vast collection of class libraries.
• The free support that Sun Microsystems provides.