Java is a programming language originally developed by Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun's 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 which can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of computer architecture.



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 made available most of their Java technologies as free software 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.

Java's design, industry backing and portability have made Java one of the fastest-growing and most widely used programming languages in the modern computing industry.

History

The Java language was created by James Gosling in June 1991 for use in a set top box project.The language was initially called Oak, after an oak tree that stood outside Gosling's office - and also went by the name Green - and ended up later being renamed to Java, from a list of random words.Gosling's goals were to implement a virtual machine and a language that had a familiar C/C++ style of notation.

The first public implementation was Java 1.0 in 1995. It promised "Write Once, Run Anywhere" (WORA), providing no-cost runtimes on popular platforms. It was fairly secure and its security was configurable, allowing network and file access to be restricted. Major web browsers soon incorporated the ability to run secure Java applets within web pages. Java became popular quickly. With the advent of Java 2, new versions had multiple configurations built for different types of platforms. For example, J2EE was for enterprise applications and the greatly stripped down version J2ME was for mobile applications. J2SE was the designation for the Standard Edition. In 2006, for marketing purposes, new J2 versions were renamed Java EE, Java ME, and Java SE, respectively.

later the Ecma International to formalize Java, but it soon withdrew from the process. Java remains a de facto standard that is controlled through the Java Community Process. At one time, Sun made most of its Java implementations available without charge although they were closed source, proprietary software. Sun's revenue from Java was generated by 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) which is a subset of the SDK, the primary distinction being that in the JRE, the compiler, utility programs, and many necessary header files are not present.

On 13 November 2006, Sun released much of Java as free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). On 8 May 2007 Sun finished the process, making all of Java's core code open source, aside from a small portion of code to which Sun did not hold the copyright.