Java is a network programming language developed by Sun Microsystems.

Intro

Java is:

Java became popular because it could create small applications that could be embedded into web pages called applets. However Java has become a popular language for making regular applications, server-side applications called servlets, and enterprise applications using reusable blocks of Java called JavaBeans or Beans.

Sun Microsystems offers the JDK (Java SDK, where SDK = Software Development Kit) for free from Sun. The JDK includes includes a number of items, but the most notable are as follows:

Here are some Java IDEs (Integrated Developer Environments) used to make Java apps:

Java has many API (Application Programming Interfaces), including Swing and Java2D. The APIs are also segmented into three platforms:

History

In 1990 Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems was trying to push away from PC-based computing and pull toward network-based computing. Joy went to Aspen, CO and formed a team of programmers called Sun Aspen Smallworks.

One of the members of Smallworks was James Gosling. Gosling had previously created Gosling Emacs (an editor which lost out to GNU Emacs because the latter was free) and Sun's NeWS (a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for Unix which lost out to X Window System because the latter had open source code). In essence, Goslign learned that you need a good language and that you need a need a network capable GUI.

By 1992, the team had evolved a Sun subsidiary called First Person, Inc. They worked on information appliances such as cellular phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and ITV (Interactive TV). They tried using C++ but found it too complex and insecure. They eventually settled upon using a small, robust, cross-platform, object oriented language called Oak. They added some network capability, and voila, Java was born in 1993.

The Java mascot is called "Duke" and he tends to wave and flip a lot.
Duke, the Javas mascot

Glossary

A glossary of words related to Java.

Internationalization
Allow programs to display text in the appropriate language automatically. As of Java 1.1.
EJB
Enterprise JavaBeans. Component architecture for making distributed server-side apps.
Java Applets
A small Java program that is embedded, usually inline, directly to a web page. A Java applet is usually accessed and used by a user within a Java-enabled browser.
JavaBeans
Reusable blocks of Java.
Java Card
A smaller version of Java for used in credit-card sized or smaller devices.
Java Cryptography
Implements algorithms for cryptography.
JavaHelp
A facility for incorporating help systems into Java apps.
JavaMail
An API for writing e-mail apps.
Java Media
Covers the classes and facilities that enable Java to deal with different media. This includes the following:
Java Security
A facility for secure access to system resources. As of Java 1.1.
Java Servlets
A facility that enables customization of web servers, including writing web apps.
J-code
Java source code (plain text) is compiled into J-code (bytes). J-code is interpreted by JVMs.
JDBC
Java DataBase Connectivity. A facility for interacting with databases. As of Java 1.1.
JFC
Java Foundation Classes. The sets of classes that come with Java. Java 2 introduced the following:
Jini
Enables massively distributed computing.
JNDI
Java Naming and Directory Interface. A general service for looking up resources, particularly in directory services such as LDAP, NDS by Novell, and others.
JVM
Java Virtual Machine. An application which enables a Java application to run. There are different JVMs for different platforms and machines.
RMI
Remote Method Invocation. Java's system for distribute objects. Allows calls to methods on objects elsewhere on the network.

Links

Links that lead to off-site pages about Java.

2007-10-29 18:11:27Z