History and Features of Java

[EXplore_System135]

It all about Java introduction. I am not going to tell you how to programming in Java in this thread, before learning to java programming, you should know about the history, features, java environment etc.

Next thread, i will teach you how to programming in Java, and what tools you needs.



Java History

Java is a general-purpose,object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems of USA in 1991.Java is really a simple, reliable,portable, and powerful language.

1990 Sun Microsystems decided to developed special software that could be used to manipulate consumer devices.A team of Sun Microsystems programmers headed by James Gosling was formed to undertake this task.

1991 Team announced a new language named "Oak".

1992 Green Project teams demonstrated the application of their new language to control a list of home appliances using a hand-held device.

1993 The Green Project team came up with the idea od developing Web applets using the new language that could run on all types of computers connected to Internet.

1994 Team developed a HotJava to locate and run applet programs on Internet.

1995 Oak was renamed "Java" due to some legal snags.
Java Features:-

There are many features of java, some of them are:-

1. Platform-Independent and Portable
2. Object-Oriented
3.Robust and Secure.
4.Distributed.
5.High Performance.

Java Environment

It includes a large number of development tools and hundred of classes and methods,where development tools are a part of Java Development Kit(JDK) and classes and method are a part of the Java Standard Library(JSL) or Application Programming Interface(API).

Java Development Kit

It comes with many tools that are used for running and developing Java programming.They include:

1. appletviewer(for viewing Java applets).
2.javac(Java Compiler).
3.java (Interpreter).
4.javap(Java Disassembler).
5.javah(for C header files).
6.javadoc(for creating HTML document).
7.jdb(Java Debugger).

Application Programming Interface

It includes hundred of class and methods grouped into several functional packages.Most commonly used packages are:

Language Support Package:-Required for implementing basic features of java.
Utilities Package:-It provide utility function such as date and time functions.
Input/Output Package:- Required for input/output manipulation
Networking Package:-For communicating with other computers via internet.
AWT Package:-Abstract Windows Toolkit package that implements platform-independent graphical user interface.
Applet Package:-Allow us to create Java Applets.