Overview and Features of Java

Java programming language was originally developed by Sun Microsystems which was initiated by James Gosling and released in 1995 as core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform.The latest release of the Java Standard Edition is Java SE 8. With the advancement of Java and its widespread popularity, multiple configurations were built to suit various types of platforms like Java SE, Java EE, and Java ME.Java is guaranteed to be Write Once, Run Anywhere.


James Gosling initiated Java language project in June 1991 for use in one of his many set-top box projects. The language, initially called ‘Oak’ after an oak tree that stood outside Gosling's office, also went by the name ‘Green’ and ended up later being renamed as Java, from a list of random words.

Sun released the first public implementation as Java 1.0 in 1995. It promised Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA), providing no-cost run-times on popular platforms.

On 13 November, 2006, Sun released much of Java as free and open source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

On 8 May, 2007, Sun finished the process, making all of Java's core code free and open-source, aside from a small portion of code to which Sun did not hold the copyright.

Release        Year
JDK Beta 1994
JDK 1.0 23rd January 1996
JDK 1.1 2nd February 1997
J2SE 1.2      4th December 1998
J2SE 1.3      8th May 2000
J2SE 1.4      13th February 2002
Java SE 5 29th September 2004
Java SE 6 11th December 2006
Java SE 7 28th July 2011
Java SE 8  18th March 2014
Java SE 9 21st September 2017
Java SE 10 20th March 2018
Java SE 11 25th September 2018
Java SE 12 19th March 2019
Java SE 13 17th September 2019
Java SE 14 17th March 2020
Java SE 15 16th September 2020
Java SE 16 16th March 2021
Java SE 17  14th September 2021
Java SE 18 22nd March 2022
Java SE 19 20th September 2022
Java SE 20 21st March 2023

For details click here

Features of Java

  • Object Oriented − In Java, everything is an Object.
  • Platform Independent − Java programs are compiled to generate byte code. This byte code is distributed over the web and interpreted by the Virtual Machine (JVM) on whichever platform it is being run on.
  • Simple − Java is designed to be easy to learn. 
  • Secure − With Java's secure feature it enables to develop virus-free, tamper-free systems. Authentication techniques are based on public-key encryption.
  • Architecture-neutral − Java compiler generates an architecture-neutral object file format, which makes the compiled code executable on many processors, with the presence of Java runtime system.
  • Portable − Being architecture-neutral and having no implementation dependent aspects of the specification makes Java portable. 
  • Robust − Java makes an effort to eliminate error prone situations by emphasizing mainly on compile time error checking and runtime checking.
  • Multithreaded − With Java's multithreaded feature it is possible to write programs that can perform many tasks simultaneously. 
  • Interpreted − Java byte code is translated on the fly to native machine instructions and is not stored anywhere.
  • High Performance − With the use of Just-In-Time compilers, Java enables high performance.
  • Distributed − Java is designed for the distributed environment of the internet.
  • Dynamic − Java is designed to adapt to an evolving environment. Java programs can carry extensive amount of run-time information that can be used to verify and resolve accesses to objects on run-time.
JDK, JRE, and JVM.
Let’s look at some of the important differences between JDK, JRE, and JVM.
  • JDK is for development purposes whereas JRE is for running the java programs.
  • JDK and JRE both contain JVM so that we can run our java program.
  • JVM is the heart of Java programming language and provides platform independence.




No comments:

Post a Comment