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"Java language" redirects here. For the Indonesian spoken language, see Javanese language. Not to be confused with JavaScript.
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode (class file) that can run on any Java Virtual Machine (JVM) regardless of computer architecture. Java is general-purpose, concurrent, class-based, and object-oriented, and is specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is intended to let application developers "write once, run anywhere". The original and reference implementation Java compilers, virtual machines, and class libraries were developed by Sun from 1995. As of May 2007, in compliance with the specifications of the Java Community Process, Sun relicensed most of their Java technologies under the GNU General Public License. Others have also developed alternative implementations of these Sun technologies, such as the GNU Compiler for Java and GNU Classpath.
[edit] HistorySee also: Java (software platform)#History and Java version history James Gosling initiated the Java language project in June 1991 for use in one of his many set-top box projects.[9] The language, initially called Oak after an oak tree that stood outside Gosling's office, also went by the name Green and ended up later renamed as Java, from a list of random words.[10] Gosling aimed to implement a virtual machine and a language that had a familiar C/C++ style of notation.[11] Sun Microsystems released the first public implementation as Java 1.0 in 1995. It promised "Write Once, Run Anywhere" (WORA), providing no-cost run-times on popular platforms. Fairly secure and featuring configurable security, it allowed network- and file-access restrictions. Major web browsers soon incorporated the ability to run Java applets within web pages, and Java quickly became popular. With the advent of Java 2 (released initially as J2SE 1.2 in December 1998), new versions had multiple configurations built for different types of platforms. For example, J2EE targeted enterprise applications and the greatly stripped-down version J2ME for mobile applications. J2SE designated the Standard Edition. In 2006, for marketing purposes, Sun renamed new J2 versions as Java EE, Java ME, and Java SE, respectively. In 1997, Sun Microsystems approached the ISO/IEC JTC1 standards body and later the Ecma International to formalize Java, but it soon withdrew from the process.[12] Java remains a de facto standard, controlled through the Java Community Process.[13] At one time, Sun made most of its Java implementations available without charge, despite their proprietary software status. Sun generated revenue from Java through the selling of licenses for specialized products such as the Java Enterprise System. Sun distinguishes between its Software Development Kit (SDK) and Runtime Environment (JRE) (a subset of the SDK); the primary distinction involves the JRE's lack of the compiler, utility programs, and header files. On November 13, 2006, Sun released much of Java as open source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). On May 8, 2007, Sun finished the process, making all of Java's core code available under free software/open-source distribution terms, aside from a small portion of code to which Sun did not hold the copyright.[14] Sun's vice-president Rich Green has said that Sun's ideal role with regards to Java is as an "evangelist."[15] [edit] PrinciplesThere were five primary goals in the creation of the Java language:[16]
[edit] Practices[edit] Java PlatformMain articles: Java (software platform) and Java Virtual Machine One characteristic of Java is portability, which means that computer programs written in the Java language must run similarly on any supported hardware/operating-system platform. This is achieved by compiling the Java language code to an intermediate representation called Java bytecode, instead of directly to platform-specific machine code. Java bytecode instructions are analogous to machine code, but are intended to be interpreted by a virtual machine (VM) written specifically for the host hardware. End-users commonly use a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed on their own machine for standalone Java applications, or in a Web browser for Java applets. Standardized libraries provide a generic way to access host-specific features such as graphics, threading and networking. A major benefit of using bytecode is porting. However, the overhead of interpretation means that interpreted programs almost always run more slowly than programs compiled to native executables would, and Java suffered a reputation for poor performance. This gap has been narrowed by a number of optimization techniques introduced in the more recent JVM implementations. [edit] ImplementationsSun Microsystems officially licenses the Java Standard Edition platform for Linux,[17] Mac OS X,[18] and Solaris. Although in the past Sun has licensed Java to Microsoft, the license has expired and has not been renewed.[19] Through a network of third-party vendors and licensees,[20] alternative Java environments are available for these and other platforms. Sun's trademark license for usage of the Java brand insists that all implementations be "compatible". This resulted in a legal dispute with Microsoft after Sun claimed that the Microsoft implementation did not support RMI or JNI and had added platform-specific features of their own. Sun sued in 1997, and in 2001 won a settlement of $20 million as well as a court order enforcing the terms of the license from Sun.[21] As a result, Microsoft no longer ships Java with Windows, and in recent versions of Windows, Internet Explorer cannot support Java applets without a third-party plugin. Sun, and others, have made available free Java run-time systems for those and other versions of Windows. Platform-independent Java is essential to the Java EE strategy, and an even more rigorous validation is required to certify an implementation. This environment enables portable server-side applications, such as Web services, Java Servlets, and Enterprise JavaBeans, as well as with embedded systems based on OSGi, using Embedded Java environments. Through the new GlassFish project, Sun is working to create a fully functional, unified open source implementation of the Java EE technologies. Sun also distributes a superset of the JRE called the Java Development Kit (commonly known as the JDK), which includes development tools such as the Java compiler, Javadoc, Jar and debugger. [edit] PerformanceMain article: Java performance Programs written in Java have a reputation for being slower and requiring more memory than those written in some other languages.[22] However, Java programs' execution speed improved significantly with the introduction of Just-in-time compilation in 1997/1998 for Java 1.1,[23][24][25] the addition of language features supporting better code analysis,[clarification needed] and optimizations in the Java Virtual Machine itself, such as HotSpot becoming the default for Sun's JVM in 2000. See also: JStik [edit] Automatic memory managementSee also: Garbage collection (computer science) Java uses an automatic garbage collector to manage memory in the object lifecycle. The programmer determines when objects are created, and the Java runtime is responsible for recovering the memory once objects are no longer in use. Once no references to an object remain, the unreachable memory becomes eligible to be freed automatically by the garbage collector. Something similar to a memory leak may still occur if a programmer's code holds a reference to an object that is no longer needed, typically when objects that are no longer needed are stored in containers that are still in use. If methods for a nonexistent object are called, a "null pointer exception" is thrown.[26][27] One of the ideas behind Java's automatic memory management model is that programmers be spared the burden of having to perform manual memory management. In some languages memory for the creation of objects is implicitly allocated on the stack, or explicitly allocated and deallocated from the heap. Either way, the responsibility of managing memory resides with the programmer. If the program does not deallocate an object, a memory leak occurs. If the program attempts to access or deallocate memory that has already been deallocated, the result is undefined and difficult to predict, and the program is likely to become unstable and/or crash. This can be partially remedied by the use of smart pointers, but these add overhead and complexity. Note that garbage collection does not prevent 'logical' memory leaks, i.e. those where the memory is still referenced but never used. Garbage collection may happen at any time. Ideally, it will occur when a program is idle. It is guaranteed to be triggered if there is insufficient free memory on the heap to allocate a new object; this can cause a program to stall momentarily. Explicit memory management is not possible in Java. Java does not support C/C++ style pointer arithmetic, where object addresses and unsigned integers (usually long integers) can be used interchangeably. This allows the garbage collector to relocate referenced objects, and ensures type safety and security. As in C++ and some other object-oriented languages, variables of Java's primitive data types are not objects. Values of primitive types are either stored directly in fields (for objects) or on the stack (for methods) rather than on the heap, as commonly true for objects (but see Escape analysis). This was a conscious decision by Java's designers for performance reasons. Because of this, Java was not considered to be a pure object-oriented programming language. However, as of Java 5.0, autoboxing enables programmers to proceed as if primitive types are instances of their wrapper classes. [edit] SyntaxMain article: Java syntax The syntax of Java is largely derived from C++. Unlike C++, which combines the syntax for structured, generic, and object-oriented programming, Java was built almost exclusively as an object oriented language. All code is written inside a class and everything is an object, with the exception of the intrinsic data types (ordinal and real numbers, boolean values, and characters), which are not classes for performance reasons. Java suppresses several features (such as operator overloading and multiple inheritance) for classes in order to simplify the language and to prevent possible errors and anti-pattern design. Java uses the same commenting methods as C++. There are two different styles of comment: a single line style marked with two forward slashes (//) and a multiple line style opened with a forward slash asterisk (/*) and closed with an asterisk forward slash (*/). Example: //This is an example of a single line comment using two forward slashes /* This is an example of a multiple line comment using the forward slash and asterisk. This type of comment can be used to hold a lot of information or deactivate code but it is very important to remember to close the comment. */ [edit] Examples[edit] Hello worldThe traditional Hello world program can be written in Java as: // Outputs "Hello, world!" and then exits public class HelloWorld { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("Hello, world!"); } } Source files must be named after the public class they contain, appending the suffix A The keyword The keyword The keyword The method name " The main method must accept an array of The Java launcher launches Java by loading a given class (specified on the command line or as an attribute in a JAR) and starting its Printing is part of a Java standard library: The The string "Hello, world!" is automatically converted to a String object by the compiler. [edit] A more comprehensive example// OddEven.java import javax.swing.JOptionPane; public class OddEven { // "input" is the number that the user gives to the computer private int input; // a whole number("int" means integer) /* * This is the constructor method. It gets called when an object of the OddEven type * is being created. */ public OddEven() { //Code not shown } // This is the main method. It gets called when this class is run through a Java interpreter. public static void main(String[] args) { /* * This line of code creates a new instance of this class called "number" (also known as an * Object) and initializes it by calling the constructor. The next line of code calls * the "showDialog()" method, which brings up a prompt to ask you for a number */ OddEven number = new OddEven(); number.showDialog(); } public void showDialog() { /* * "try" makes sure nothing goes wrong. If something does, * the interpreter skips to "catch" to see what it should do. */ try { /* * The code below brings up a JOptionPane, which is a dialog box * The String returned by the "showInputDialog()" method is converted into * an integer, making the program treat it as a number instead of a word. * After that, this method calls a second method, calculate() that will * display either "Even" or "Odd." */ input = new Integer(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please Enter A Number")); calculate(); } catch (NumberFormatException e) { /* * Getting in the catch block means that there was a problem with the format of * the number. Probably some letters were typed in instead of a number. */ System.err.println("ERROR: Invalid input. Please type in a numerical value."); } } /* * When this gets called, it sends a message to the interpreter. * The interpreter usually shows it on the command prompt (For Windows users) * or the terminal (For Linux users).(Assuming it's open) */ private void calculate() { if (input % 2 == 0) { System.out.println("Even"); } else { System.out.println("Odd"); } } }
[edit] Special classes[edit] AppletMain article: Java applet Java applets are programs that are embedded in other applications, typically in a Web page displayed in a Web browser. // Hello.java import javax.swing.JApplet; import java.awt.Graphics; public class Hello extends JApplet { public void paintComponent(Graphics g) { g.drawString("Hello, world!", 65, 95); } } The The The <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <!-- Hello.html --> <html> <head> <title>Hello World Applet</title> </head> <body> <applet code="Hello" width="200" height="200"> </applet> </body> </html> An applet is placed in an HTML document using the The host application, typically a Web browser, instantiates the [edit] ServletMain article: Java Servlet Java Servlet technology provides Web developers with a simple, consistent mechanism for extending the functionality of a Web server and for accessing existing business systems. Servlets are server-side Java EE components that generate responses (typically HTML pages) to requests (typically HTTP requests) from clients. A servlet can almost be thought of as an applet that runs on the server side—without a face. // Hello.java import java.io.*; import javax.servlet.*; public class Hello extends GenericServlet { public void service(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); final PrintWriter pw = response.getWriter(); pw.println("Hello, world!"); pw.close(); } } The The The The [edit] JavaServer PageMain article: JavaServer Pages JavaServer Pages (JSPs) are server-side Java EE components that generate responses, typically HTML pages, to HTTP requests from clients. JSPs embed Java code in an HTML page by using the special delimiters [edit] Swing applicationMain article: Swing (Java) Swing is a graphical user interface library for the Java SE platform. It is possible to specify a different look and feel through the pluggable look and feel system of Swing. Clones of Windows, GTK+ and Motif are supplied by Sun. Apple also provides an Aqua look and feel for Mac OS X. Where prior implementations of these looks and feels may have been considered lacking, Swing in Java SE 6 addresses this problem by using more native GUI widget drawing routines of the underlying platforms. This example Swing application creates a single window with "Hello, world!" inside: // Hello.java (Java SE 5) import java.awt.BorderLayout; import javax.swing.*; public class Hello extends JFrame { public Hello() { super("hello"); setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); setLayout(new BorderLayout()); add(new JLabel("Hello, world!")); pack(); } public static void main(String[] args) { new Hello().setVisible(true); } } The first The The The [edit] GenericsMain article: Generics in Java In 2004 generics were added to the Java language, as part of J2SE 5.0. Prior to the introduction of generics, each variable declaration had to be of a specific type. For container classes, for example, this is a problem because there is no easy way to create a container that accepts only specific types of objects. Either the container operates on all subtypes of a class or interface, usually [edit] Class libraries
[edit] DocumentationMain article: Javadoc Javadoc is a comprehensive documentation system, created by Sun Microsystems, used by many Java developers. It provides developers with an organized system for documenting their code. Whereas normal comments in Java and C are set off with /* and */, the multi-line comment tags, Javadoc comments have an extra asterisk at the beginning, so that the tags are /** and */. [edit] ExamplesThe following is an example of java code commented with simple Javadoc-style comments: /** * A program that does useful things. */ public class Program { /** * A main method. * @param args The arguments */ public static void main(String[] args) { //do stuff } } [edit] EditionsSee also: Free Java implementations#Class library
Sun has defined and supports four editions of Java targeting different application environments and segmented many of its APIs so that they belong to one of the platforms. The platforms are:
The classes in the Java APIs are organized into separate groups called packages. Each package contains a set of related interfaces, classes and exceptions. Refer to the separate platforms for a description of the packages available. The set of APIs is controlled by Sun Microsystems in cooperation with others through the Java Community Process program. Companies or individuals participating in this process can influence the design and development of the APIs. This process has been a subject of controversy. Sun also provided an edition called PersonalJava that has been superseded by later, standards-based Java ME configuration-profile pairings. [edit] CriticismMain article: Criticism of Java [edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: Class-based programming languages | Concurrent programming languages | C programming language family | Cross-platform software | Curly bracket programming languages | Java platform | Java programming language | Java specification requests | JVM programming languages | Object-oriented programming languages | Programming languages created in 1995 | Sun Microsystems | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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