GET EVERY CODE YOU WANT: AN AMAZING PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE: JAVA

JAVA : THE MOST USED PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

Last Updated On : 9th Dec 2015

Java is an OOP(Object Oriented Programming) language developed by Sun Microsystems(which has merged into Oracle Corporation) in the year 1995 and James Gosling held the frontier in its success(precisely huge success).It is class based and concurrent.The best thing about Java is write once and use any where(WORA). It means that you have to write the code only once and then you can run it on any platform e.g. Windows,Mac,Android,Linux,Symbian and so on.The feature that enables you to do so is JVM(Java Virtual Machine).If you have a JVM on your device,you can run any java code.This gives us the essence of versatility and portability of Java.This plus point of Java is very useful to the development world where different programmers use different platforms but for the same goal.

WHY JAVA?

It is portable.
Derives most of its syntax from C and C++ which are generally known to any newbie.
Large set of libraries.
It does not depend on computer's architecture.
You can use Java as a scripting language too(not possible with C/C++).
You can make applets,servlets.
It has high level of abstraction and is highly secure.
Best community support(You will get your questions answered easily and with in no time).
3 billion mobile phones use java(Do you need any other proof ?).
It runs on everything like laptops, game consoles and even on scientific super computers.
It executes with high performance.
Java is interpreted,threaded and dynamic.
OpenJDK ( Open Java Development Kit ) is a free and open source implementation of the Java programming language.
Some microcontrollers can run Java in hardware.
It has automatic memory management(i.e. automatic garbage collector).

VERSIONS:

Major release versions of Java:

JDK 1.0 (January 21, 1996)
JDK 1.1 (February 19, 1997)
J2SE 1.2 (December 8, 1998)
J2SE 1.3 (May 8, 2000)
J2SE 1.4 (February 6, 2002)
J2SE 5.0 (September 30, 2004)
Java SE 6 (December 11, 2006)
Java SE 7 (July 28, 2011)
Java EE 7 (October 27, 2013)
Java SE 8 (March 18, 2014)
Java SE 9 (Initial release of Java 9 scheduled for September 22, 2016 [Expected])
Java SE 10 (We can expect it around 2018)

HOW CAN JAVA RUN ON ANY PLATFORM?

First and foremost, Java language code is not converted/compiled to platform specific machine code. Actually the Java language code is converted or compiled to an intermediate representation known as the Java bytecode. This Java bytecode is somewhat analogous to the machine code but the best part is that it has to be interpreted by a Virtual machine(VM) which is specifically written for Host devices.So to put it in simple terms, you have a friend named JVM (Java Virtual Machine) who takes the responsibility of running your Java code on any platform and thus making your life easier.It wouldn't be wrong if we say that if English is the language of Global Communication then Java is the language of Global software development industry.Wanna know more about JVM?

Go to - KNOW MORE ABOUT JVM

IS JAVA SLOW?

Truly speaking - Yes!!!!

Programs written in Java are slower and require more memory as compared to the programs written in C++. But due to addition of features supporting better code analysis(e.g. Just-in-time compilation), there has been a significant increase in the speed of execution of Java programs (hence you may never feel it's slow).

SYNTAX:

Consider the famous example of - Hello world!!!

Here I have used NetBeans to execute my Java code.The best thing about NetBeans is that it does everything for you just at one place and you are relieved from many tiresome tasks.I recommend you to use NetBeans or any other similar product of your choice. Latest version of NetBeans for various operating systems can be downloaded from here.

Please note in the image that:

The package name helloworld comes first.And if you forget the semicolon after that, all the best for hours of scratching your head.
Then comes the the public class Helloworld. You can think of a class as a code segment but you should tell where it starts and where it ends.It is done by a pair of curly braces as shown in the diagram.
Whats inside class Helloworld is another code segment called main. This part is very important because whenever a Java program starts it looks for a method called main and executes the statements inside it first. So if you don't have a main method in your Java programs,you will get an error.

APPLICATION:

Uncountable applications!!!! Java is just everywhere and anywhere.Various devices ranging form a wrist watch to a super computer uses java.This much information is enough to tell the vast applications of Java.

FUTURE OF JAVA:

Many programmers say that Java suffers the Von Neumann bottleneck and the future of software development industry is functional programming languages like Scala. But you can not run away from the evident facts of Java in today's scenario.Yes!!! Java is the most used programming language and it deserves to be the best.Regarding an alternative or better option compared to Java - It will not be an easy journey and it will take decades or even centuries to find a perfect and better option than Java.So be a Java Person and you will have a great future.

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