Java is a cross-platform, object-oriented, server-side, general-purpose language used for GUI applications, web applications, mobile applications, embedded systems, and enterprise applications. The Java programming language was developed by James Gosling in 1995. The main principles behind developing Java were to create a simple, robust, secure, platform-independent, high-performance language.
Java Features
Let’s understand the terms defined above in detail:
- Cross Platform
- Cross Platform means Java can run on any type of operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.). You can run the same code everywhere without any problems.
- Object-oriented
- Object-oriented is a programming paradigm based on classes and objects. Simply put, object-oriented programming is a method/way to represent real-world entities/objects in programming. Just like in C++ and PHP, you can create objects and classes in Java.
- Interpreted / Compiled
- Java language is considered both compiled and interpreted because to run any Java program, you need to compile it into binary byte-code. This byte-code is then run by the JVM (Java Virtual Machine), which is a software-based interpreter.
- Multi-Purpose
- Java is not made for just one field; it is used in GUI applications, web applications, mobile applications, embedded systems, and enterprise applications.
- Secure
- No doubt, Java is a secure language. The main reason is byte-code. After compiling a Java program, it is converted into byte-code, which can only be executed by the JVM.
History of Java
As mentioned earlier, Java was developed by James Gosling in 1995. However, this project was initiated in 1991 by James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton. This small team of engineers was named the Green Team. Initially, it was designed to create small embedded systems used in electronic appliances like set-top boxes.
Initially, this language was named Greentalk by James Gosling, with the file extension .gt. Afterward, under the Green Project, it was named Oak. But since there was already a company named Oak Technologies, it was finally named JAVA in 1995.
Java Version History
Below is the list of Java versions and their release dates:
- JDK Alpha and Beta (1995)
- JDK 1.0 (23rd Jan 1996)
- JDK 1.1 (19th Feb 1997)
- J2SE 1.2 (8th Dec 1998)
- J2SE 1.3 (8th May 2000)
- J2SE 1.4 (6th Feb 2002)
- J2SE 5.0 (30th Sep 2004)
- Java SE 6 (11th Dec 2006)
- Java SE 7 (28th July 2011)
- Java SE 8 (18th Mar 2014)
- Java SE 9 (21st Sep 2017)
- Java SE 10 (20th Mar 2018)
- Java SE 11 (September 2018)
- Java SE 12 (March 2019)
- Java SE 13 (September 2019)
- Java SE 14 (Mar 2020)
- Java SE 15 (September 2020)
- Java SE 16 (Mar 2021)
- Java SE 17 (September 2021)
- Java SE 18 (22nd Mar 2022)
Java Applications
As mentioned above, the Java language can be used in many areas:
- Desktop Applications like Acrobat Reader, media players, antivirus, etc.
- Web Applications such as websites.
- Enterprise Applications like banking applications.
- Mobile Applications
- Embedded Systems
- Robotics
- Games, etc.