A little Story of Java

Java was created at Sun Microsystems as a general-purpose programming language, similar to programming languages C and C++. It is object-oriented and platform independent. Java was originally designed in 1995 for use in consumer electronics. Currently Java is used in Distributed applications, Internet of Things, Cloud computing, and so on.

Java is widely adopted across billions of devices, ranging from smart cards, and watches, and phones, and tablets, up through computers, all the way up to supercomputers.

Java Ecosystem

The Java ecosystem has a number of different Java additions that make up the ecosystem. This means that Java has different editions that can be used accordingly their purpose and scope application.

• Java Card
  • This edition of Java can be used with SIM cards.
• Java ME (Micro-Edition)
  • This edition is from small devices, which can work with devices like smart TVs, set-top boxes, and embedded devices.

• Java SE (Standard-Edition)
  • This edition is the starting point for learning the Java programming language. It includes everything you need to write and run your Java code, such as compilers and Java virtual machines. It also provides libraries full of useful classes and features to support the code you’re creating. If you want to learn java you can start with this edition.
• Java MP (Micro-Profile)
  • This edition is for building microservices. It helps you set up and run your application as a microservice on a server. You can learn more about this edition here.
• Java EE (Enterprise-Edition)
  • This edition is for making big business applications. It helps with web services, messaging using Java messaging, and sharing code using enterprise JavaBeans. For making the part of the program that users see, you can use things like servlets, Java server pages, and Java server faces. But lately, these are becoming less popular. Mostly, Java is used in big businesses, in what we call the “back end” of the business, to make code that can be used by many different parts of the business. This can be things like web services, and that’s mostly how we see Java being used nowadays.

Java is Cross-Platform

Java is special because it works on any type of computer. This is because when you write a Java program, you only have to write and compile it once. Let me explain:

First, when you write a Java program, you write it in English, just like when you’re writing a story. Then, you use a special program called a compiler to change your English code into a form that the computer can understand and run. This code is called bytecode.

Now, this bytecode isn’t the final code that the computer runs. Instead, it’s like a middle step. When you want to run your Java program, you need something called a Java virtual machine (JVM). This virtual machine takes your bytecode and turns it into the actual code that the computer can use.

So, because of this process, you can write your Java program on one type of computer, like a Mac, and then run it on a different type of computer, like a Windows computer. It will work the same on both!

That’s why people say Java is “write once, run anywhere.” It’s because you only have to write your code once, and it can run on many different types of computers. Cool, right?