J is for Java
J is not for a hot beverage enjoyed in the morning. It is also not for an island in Indonesia. It most certainly is not for a certain type of script. No, this J is for Java, a programming language that was developed and released in 1995. Originally Java was known as Oak, for the oak tree outside the language developers’ office window. Then it became known as Green, and finally the team decided upon using Java, because of the copious amounts of caffeine the developers consumed while creating it. Okay, maybe J is for coffee!
As Java was developed, its originators held five objectives in mind:
To make it a simple and familiar, object-oriented programming language.
It needed to be secure and robust.
The output needed to be high performance.
As a programming language, it needed to be dynamic, threaded and interpreted.
Architecture neutrality and portability were essential.
Java is both a programming language as well as a platform. It has been used to develop games, utilities, and business applications. As a platform, Java runs on well over 850,000 computers worldwide. Additionally, there are billions of instances of programs developed in Java operating on mobile devices and televisions globally.
For most users of computers and portable handheld devices, Java is hidden from view, powering favorite games and applications quietly in the background. Not having Java installed on one’s computer can negatively impact the use of many applications and websites which rely on the language to perform quickly and efficiently. New programs and web applications are built everyday, as well.
Why is Java so popular?
Java is extremely reliable from an application processing point of view. It is also easy to secure data access and transfer as well as being much faster than other programming languages implemented for similar usage.