Java (programming

language)
object-oriented programming language

Java is the name of a programming

language created by Sun Microsystems.
This company was bought out by Oracle
Corporation, which continues to keep it up
to date. The latest version is Java 12,
released in March 2019. However, Java 12
is not a Long Term Support (LTS) version.
The latest Long Term Support (LTS)
version is Java 11,[1] released on
September 25, 2018; Oracle released for
the "legacy" Java 8 LTS the last free "public
update".

Java, which was called Oak when it was

still being developed, is object oriented,
meaning it is based on objects that work
together to make programs do their jobs.
Java code looks like C, C++, or C#, but
code written in those languages will not
work in Java in most cases without being
changed.[2]
Java runs on many different operating
systems, including Android, the world's
most popular mobile operating system[3]
(while Java continues to be used on
Android, even by its maker Google, they no
longer prefer Java; now Kotlin is their
preferred language, that can also be used
with all Java code). This makes Java
platform independent. It does this by
making the Java compiler turn code into
Java bytecode instead of machine code.
This means that when the program is
executed, the Java Virtual Machine
interprets the bytecode and translates it
into machine code.[4]
Java concepts
Java was developed to achieve five main
goals. These are:[5][6]

Java should be easy to learn, object-

oriented, and distributed.
Java should be safe and strong.
Java shouldn't depend on any computer
architecture or platform.
Java should function well.
Java should be able to have an
interpreter written for it, and support
parallelism and use dynamic typing.
Java platform
The Java platform refers to a group of
software products from Sun
Microsystems. The platform is used to
develop and run Java programs. The
platform includes the execution engine
(called a Java Virtual Machine) that allows
Java programs to do the same thing on
different computer systems.

This capability of being able to develop

software on one platform and running it on
other platforms is called "cross-platform
capability".

Java program example

An example "Hello World" Java program:

/**
* This is a simple program
in Java.
* It shows "Hello World!"
on the screen.
*/
class HelloWorld {
public static void
main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("Hello
World!");
 }
}

Types of Java programs

There are many types of Java programs
which run differently:

Java Applet - small program written in

Java and that is downloaded from a
website and executed within a web
browser on a client computer.
Application - executes on a client
computer. If online, it has to be
downloaded before being run.
 JAR file (Java archive) - used to package
Java files together into a single file
(almost exactly like a .zip file).
Servlet - runs on a web server and helps
to generate web pages.
Swing application - used to build an
application that has a GUI (windows,
buttons, menus, etc.).
EJB - runs on a web server and is used
to develop large, complex websites.

Benefits
Java is commonly used to teach students
how to program as a first language, but is
still also used by professionals.
Java requires that each variable be
initialized. Some older languages such
as C, allow variables to go uninitialized,
which can cause random failures with
mysterious bugs.
Java requires that each method
declares a return type—the method
should always return a value, except if
its return type is void. This also prevents
bugs.
Java comes with a large set of classes
and methods, the Java API that can be
used without having to develop as much
code "from scratch".
Unlike C, Java primitive types, such as
int, are always the same size in the
number of bits which helps achieve
cross-platform compatibility.
Java used to be thought of as being
slower than C, but that's become less
important in recent years because
computers are faster.
Java has exception-handling that
requires a programmer to handle error-
conditions such as Input/Output errors.
Code compiled on one Java platform
can be run on other platforms that
support Java without modification of
either the source-code nor the byte-
code. This means that a person can
make a Java program for a Windows
 computer and have it run a Linux
computer or a Mac computer.

Criticism
Java has also been criticized. Some of the
criticisms are:

Generics were added to Java in such a

way so that existing code would still
keep running. This was done using type
erasure. This means that during
compilation, the actual type of a generic
argument is removed. This can lead to
the Java interpreter to behave in
unexpected ways at times.
 Java has no unsigned integer types,
which languages like C heavily use. This
also means that it is impossible to
directly exchange numeric data between
C and Java programs. Cryptography
also relies on such types to some
extent; this makes it more difficult to
write applications that use cryptography
in Java.
The IEEE has defined a standard for
floating-point arithmetic, IEE 754. Java
only supports a part of the features of
this standard.

References
1. "Java SE Versions History" .
CodeJava. 4 October 2018.
2. "Java vs. C++: Which Language Is
Right For Your Software Project?" .
Hiring | Upwork. 2016-12-21. Retrieved
2018-10-05.
3. "I want to develop Android Apps —
What languages should I learn?" .
Android Authority. 2017-12-24.
Retrieved 2018-10-05.
4. "How is Java platform independent? -
GeeksforGeeks" . GeeksforGeeks.
2017-06-23. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
5. James Gosling, Henry McGilton: The
Java Language Environment. 1.2
 Design Goals of the Java
Programming Language. Mai 1996.
6. The Java Language: An Overview.
James Gosling, February 1995

Other websites
Java home page

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Last edited 28 days ago by CentralTime301

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