Java is a powerful general-purpose programming language. It is used to develop desktop and mobile applications, big data processing, embedded systems, and so on. According to Oracle, the company that owns Java, Java runs on 3 billion devices worldwide, which makes Java one of the most popular programming languages.
It is used for:
- Mobile applications (specially Android apps)
- Desktop applications
- Web applications
- Web servers and application servers
- Games
- Database connection
Why Use Java?
- Java works on different platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, etc.)
- It is one of the most popular programming language in the world
- It is easy to learn and simple to use
- It is open-source and free
- It is secure, fast and powerful
- It has a huge community support (tens of millions of developers)
- Java is an object oriented language which gives a clear structure to programs and allows code to be reused, lowering development costs
- As Java is close to C++ and C#, it makes it easy for programmers to switch to Java or vice versa
Java was originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems (which has since been acquired by Oracle) and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems’ Java platform. The original and reference implementation Java compilers, virtual machines, and class libraries were originally released by Sun under proprietary licenses. As of May 2007, in compliance with the specifications of the Java Community Process, Sun had relicensed most of its Java technologies under the GNU General Public License. Oracle offers its own HotSpot Java Virtual Machine, however the official reference implementation is the OpenJDK JVM which is free open source software and used by most developers and is the default JVM for almost all Linux distributions.
For Further reading refer to following links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_(programming_language)
https://www.w3schools.com/java/java_intro.asp
https://www.programiz.com/java-programming
Suggested Readings:
Java The Complete Reference Eleventh Edition Mcgraw hills
Programming with Java | 6th Edition by McGraw-Hill
Core Java: An Integrated Approach, New: Includes All Versions upto Java 8 by Dreamtech Press
