Introduction to Java and History of Java

Last updated on Dec 25 2022
Prabhas Ramanathan

Java is a programming language and a platform. Java is a high level, robust, object-oriented and secure programming language.
Java was developed by Sun Microsystems (which is now the subsidiary of Oracle) in the year 1995. James Gosling is known as the father of Java. Before Java, its name was Oak. Since Oak was already a registered company, so James Gosling and his team changed the Oak name to Java.
Platform: Any hardware or software environment in which a program runs, is known as a platform. Since Java has a runtime environment (JRE) and API, it is called a platform.

Table of Contents

Java Example

Let’s have a quick look at Java programming example. A detailed description of Hello Java example is available in next page.

1. class Simple{ 
2. public static void main(String args[]){ 
3. System.out.println("Hello Java"); 
4. } 
5. }

Application

According to Sun, 3 billion devices run Java. There are many devices where Java is currently used. Some of them are as follows:
1. Desktop Applications such as acrobat reader, media player, antivirus, etc.
2. Web Applications such as irctc.co.in, tecklearn.com, etc.
3. Enterprise Applications such as banking applications.
4. Mobile
5. Embedded System
6. Smart Card
7. Robotics
8. Games, etc.

Types of Java Applications

There are mainly 4 types of applications that can be created using Java programming:

1) Standalone Application

Standalone applications are also known as desktop applications or window-based applications. These are traditional software that we need to install on every machine. Examples of standalone application are Media player, antivirus, etc. AWT and Swing are used in Java for creating standalone applications.

2) Web Application

An application that runs on the server side and creates a dynamic page is called a web application. Currently, Servlet, JSP, Struts, Spring, Hibernate, JSF, etc. technologies are used for creating web applications in Java.

3) Enterprise Application

An application that is distributed in nature, such as banking applications, etc. is called enterprise application. It has advantages of the high-level security, load balancing, and clustering. In Java, EJB is used for creating enterprise applications.

4) Mobile Application

An application which is created for mobile devices is called a mobile application. Currently, Android and Java ME are used for creating mobile applications.

Java Platforms / Editions

There are 4 platforms or editions of Java:

1) Java SE (Java Standard Edition)

It is a Java programming platform. It includes Java programming APIs such as java.lang, java.io, java.net, java.util, java.sql, java.math etc. It includes core topics like OOPs, String, Regex, Exception, Inner classes, Multithreading, I/O Stream, Networking, AWT, Swing, Reflection, Collection, etc.

2) Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition)

It is an enterprise platform which is mainly used to develop web and enterprise applications. It is built on the top of the Java SE platform. It includes topics like Servlet, JSP, Web Services, EJB, JPA, etc.

3) Java ME (Java Micro Edition)

It is a micro platform which is mainly used to develop mobile applications.

4) JavaFX

It is used to develop rich internet applications. It uses a light-weight user interface API.

History of Java

The history of Java is very interesting. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it was too advanced technology for the digital cable television industry at the time. The history of Java starts with the Green Team. Java team members (also known as Green Team), initiated this project to develop a language for digital devices such as set-top boxes, televisions, etc. However, it was suited for internet programming. Later, Java technology was incorporated by Netscape.
The principles for creating Java programming were “Simple, Robust, Portable, Platform-independent, Secured, High Performance, Multithreaded, Architecture Neutral, Object-Oriented, Interpreted, and Dynamic”. Java was developed by James Gosling, who is known as the father of Java, in 1995. James Gosling and his team members started the project in the early ’90s.
Currently, Java is used in internet programming, mobile devices, games, e-business solutions, etc. There are given significant points that describe the history of Java.
1) James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton initiated the Java language project in June 1991. The small team of sun engineers called Green Team.
2) Initially designed for small, embedded systems in electronic appliances like set-top boxes.
3) Firstly, it was called “Greentalk” by James Gosling, and the file extension was .gt.
4) After that, it was called Oak and was developed as a part of the Green project.

Why Java named “Oak”?

5) Why Oak? Oak is a symbol of strength and chosen as a national tree of many countries like the U.S.A., France, Germany, Romania, etc.
6) In 1995, Oak was renamed as “Java” because it was already a trademark by Oak Technologies.

Why Java Programming named “Java”?

7) Why had they chosen java name for Java language? The team gathered to choose a new name. The suggested words were “dynamic”, “revolutionary”, “Silk”, “jolt”, “DNA”, etc. They wanted something that reflected the essence of the technology: revolutionary, dynamic, lively, cool, unique, and easy to spell and fun to say.
According to James Gosling, “Java was one of the top choices along with Silk”. Since Java was so unique, most of the team members preferred Java than other names.
8) Java is an island of Indonesia where the first coffee was produced (called java coffee). It is a kind of espresso bean. Java name was chosen by James Gosling while having coffee near his office.
9) Notice that Java is just a name, not an acronym.
10) Initially developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems (which is now a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation) and released in 1995.
11) In 1995, Time magazine called Java one of the Ten Best Products of 1995.
12) JDK 1.0 released in(January 23, 1996). After the first release of Java, there have been many additional features added to the language. Now Java is being used in Windows applications, Web applications, enterprise applications, mobile applications, cards, etc. Each new version adds the new features in Java.

Java Version History

Many java versions have been released till now. The current stable release of Java is Java SE 10.
1. JDK Alpha and Beta (1995)
2. JDK 1.0 (23rd Jan 1996)
3. JDK 1.1 (19th Feb 1997)
4. J2SE 1.2 (8th Dec 1998)
5. J2SE 1.3 (8th May 2000)
6. J2SE 1.4 (6th Feb 2002)
7. J2SE 5.0 (30th Sep 2004)
8. Java SE 6 (11th Dec 2006)
9. Java SE 7 (28th July 2011)
10. Java SE 8 (18th Mar 2014)
11. Java SE 9 (21st Sep 2017)
12. Java SE 10 (20th Mar 2018)
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What you will Learn in this Course?

Introduction to Java

• Java Fundamentals
• Introduction to Java Basics
• Features of Java
• Various components of Java language
• Benefits of Java over other programming languages
• Key Benefits of Java

Installation and IDE’s for Java Programming Language

• Installation of Java
• Setting up of Eclipse IDE
• Components of Java Program
• Editors and IDEs used for Java Programming
• Writing a Simple Java Program

Data Handling and Functions

• Data types, Operations, Compilation process, Class files, Loops, Conditions
• Using Loop Constructs
• Arrays- Single Dimensional and Multi-Dimensional
• Functions
• Functions with Arguments

OOPS in Java: Concept of Object Orientation

• Object Oriented Programming in Java
• Implement classes and objects in Java
• Create Class Constructors
• Overload Constructors
• Inheritance
• Inherit Classes and create sub-classes
• Implement abstract classes and methods
• Use static keyword
• Implement Interfaces and use it

Polymorphism, Packages and String Handling

• Concept of Static and Run time Polymorphism
• Function Overloading
• String Handling –String Class
• Java Packages

Exception Handling and Multi-Threading

• Exception handling
• Various Types of Exception Handling
• Introduction to multi-threading in Java
• Extending the thread class
• Synchronizing the thread

File Handling in Java

• Input Output Streams
• Java.io Package
• File Handling in Java

Java Collections

• Wrapper Classes and Inner Classes: Integer, Character, Boolean, Float etc
• Applet Programs: How to write UI programs with Applet, Java.lang, Java.io, Java.util
• Collections: ArrayList, Vector, HashSet, TreeSet, HashMap, HashTable

Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)

• Introduction to SQL: Connect, Insert, Update, Delete, Select
• Introduction to JDBC and Architecture of JDBC
• Insert/Update/Delete/Select Operations using JDBC
• Batch Processing Transaction
• Management: Commit and Rollback

Java Enterprise Edition – Servlets

• Introduction to J2EE
• Client Server architecture
• URL, Port Number, Request, Response
• Need for servlets
• Servlet fundamentals
• Setting up a web project in Eclipse
• Configuring and running the web app with servlets
• GET and POST request in web application with demo
• Servlet lifecycle
• Servlets Continued
• Session tracking and filter
• Forward and include Servlet request dispatchers

Java Server Pages (JSP)

• Fundamentals of Java Server Page
• Writing a code using JSP
• The architecture of JSP
• JSP Continued
• JSP elements: Scriptlets, expressions, declaration
• JSP standard actions
• JSP directives
• Introduction to JavaBeans
• ServletConfig and ServletContext
• Servlet Chaining
• Cookies Management

• Session Management

Hibernate

• Introduction to Hibernate
• Introduction to ORM
• ORM features
• Hibernate as an ORM framework
• Hibernate features
• Setting up a project with Hibernate framework
• Basic APIs needed to do CRUD operations with Hibernate
• Hibernate Architecture

POJO (Plain Old Java Object)

• POJO (Plain Old Java Object)
• Persistent Objects
• Lifecycle of Persistent Object

Spring

• Introduction to Spring
• Spring Fundamentals
• Advanced Spring

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