What is Java?

Java is a popular high-level, object-oriented programming language, which was originally developed by
Sun Microsystems and released in 1995. Currently, Java is owned by Oracle and more than 3 billion
devices run Java. Java runs on a variety of platforms, such as Windows, Mac OS, and the various versions
of UNIX. Today Java is being used to develop numerous types of software applications including Desktop
Apps, Mobile apps, Web apps, Games, and much more.

Java is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers Write Once, Run
Anywhere (WORA). This means that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java
without the need to recompile.

In this tutorial, you will learn everything about Java starting from basics to advanced concepts such as
overview, history, installations, basic input/output, conditional & control statements, arrays, classes,
inheritances, method overloading & overriding, exceptional handling, exception handling, and many
more.

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Java First Example

The first example in Java is to print "Hello, World!" on the screen. Let's have a quick look at the first
examples in Java programming example.:

Open Compiler

public class MyFirstJavaProgram {

/* This is my first java program.

* This will print 'Hello, World!' as the output

*/

public static void main(String []args) {

System.out.println("Hello, World!"); // prints Hello, World!

}
Java Features
Java is a feature-rich language. Java is evolving continuously with every update and updates are coming
after every six months. Following are some of the main features of Java language -

 Object Oriented: Java is a pure object-oriented language and everything in Java is an object. Java
supports OOPS principles like Inheritance, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, Classes , and so on.
Java itself can be extended as well being based on an object model.

 Platform Independent: Java code is platform independent. A Java code is not compiled into
machine-specific code, it is compiled into a platform-neutral byte code. This byte code is
executed by JVM which runs the code on the underlying platform. This capability makes Java a
Write Once Run Anywhere language.

 Easy To Learn: Java inherits features from C, and C++ and developers can easily learn Java if they
know any of the C or C++ language. Even for someone new to computer languages, java is very
easy to learn from scratch.

 Secure: Java is secure by architecture. A developer is not required to directly interact with
underlying memory or Operating System. Java provides automatic garbage collection so
developers are not required to worry about memory leaks, management, etc.

 Architectural-Neutral: Java byte code can be executed on any kind of processor. JRE
automatically handles the code execution on different types of processors.

 Portable - A Java code written on a windows machine can be executed without any code change
on MacOS and vice versa. There is no need to make any operating system-specific code changes.

 Robust - Java is a very robust language with very strong compile-time error checks, strict type
checking, and runtime exception handling.

 Multithreading - Java provides inbuilt support for multiprocessing and multithreading. Java
provides thread handling, monitors, deadlock handling, racing conditions, etc.

 High Performance - Java although being interpreted, still is very performant. JIT (Just In Time)
compiler helps in improving performance.

 Distributed - Java is designed for distributed systems and is the most popular language for
developing internet-based applications as the internet is a distributed environment.

Java - Data Types

Data types define the type and value range of the data for the different types of variables,
constants, method parameters, returns type, etc. The data type tells the compiler about the type of data
to be stored and the required memory. To store and manipulate different types of data, all variables
must have specified data types.

Java data types are categorized into two parts −

  Primitive Data Types

 Reference/Object Data Types

Java Primitive Data Types

Primitive data types are predefined by the language and named by a keyword. There are eight primitive
data types supported by Java. Below is the list of the primitive data types:

 byte

 short

 int

 long

 float

 double

 boolean

Java byte Data Type

 Byte data type is an 8-bit signed two's complement integer

 Minimum value is -128 (-2^7)

 Maximum value is 127 (inclusive)(2^7 -1)

 Default value is 0

 Byte data type is used to save space in large arrays, mainly in place of integers, since a byte is
four times smaller than an integer.

 Example − byte a = 100, byte b = -50

Java short Data Type

 Short data type is a 16-bit signed two's complement integer

 Minimum value is -32,768 (-2^15)

 Maximum value is 32,767 (inclusive) (2^15 -1)

 Short data type can also be used to save memory as byte data type. A short is 2 times smaller
than an integer

 Default value is 0.

 Example − short s = 10000, short r = -20000

Java int Data Type

 Int data type is a 32-bit signed two's complement integer.

  Minimum value is - 2,147,483,648 (-2^31)

 Maximum value is 2,147,483,647(inclusive) (2^31 -1)

 Integer is generally used as the default data type for integral values unless there is a concern
about memory.

 The default value is 0

 Example − int a = 100000, int b = -200000

Java long Data Type

 Long data type is a 64-bit signed two's complement integer

 Minimum value is -9,223,372,036,854,775,808(-2^63)

 Maximum value is 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 (inclusive)(2^63 -1)

 This type is used when a wider range than int is needed

 Default value is 0L

 Example − long a = 100000L, long b = -200000L

Java float Data Type

 Float data type is a single-precision 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point

 Float is mainly used to save memory in large arrays of floating point numbers

 Default value is 0.0f

 Float data type is never used for precise values such as currency

 Example − float f1 = 234.5f

Java double Data Type

 double data type is a double-precision 64-bit IEEE 754 floating point

 This data type is generally used as the default data type for decimal values, generally the default
choice

 Double data type should never be used for precise values such as currency

 Default value is 0.0d

 Example − double d1 = 123.4

Java boolean Data Type

 boolean data type represents one bit of information

 There are only two possible values: true and false

  This data type is used for simple flags that track true/false conditions

 Default value is false

 Example − boolean one = true

Java char Data Type

 char data type is a single 16-bit Unicode character

 Minimum value is '\u0000' (or 0)

 Maximum value is '\uffff' (or 65,535 inclusive)

 Char data type is used to store any character

 Example − char letterA = 'A'

Example: Demonstrating Different Primitive Data Types

 Following examples shows the usage of variour primitive data types we've discussed
above. We've used add operations on numeric data types whereas boolean and char
variables are printed as such.

 public class JavaTester {
 public static void main(String args[]) {

 byte byteValue1 = 2;
 byte byteValue2 = 4;
 byte byteResult = (byte)(byteValue1 + byteValue2);

 System.out.println("Byte: " + byteResult);

 short shortValue1 = 2;
 short shortValue2 = 4;
 short shortResult = (short)(shortValue1 + shortValue2);

 System.out.println("Short: " + shortResult);

 int intValue1 = 2;
 int intValue2 = 4;
 int intResult = intValue1 + intValue2;

 System.out.println("Int: " + intResult);

 long longValue1 = 2L;
 long longValue2 = 4L;
 long longResult = longValue1 + longValue2;

 System.out.println("Long: " + longResult);
 
 float floatValue1 = 2.0f;
 float floatValue2 = 4.0f;
 float floatResult = floatValue1 + floatValue2;

 System.out.println("Float: " + floatResult);

 double doubleValue1 = 2.0;
 double doubleValue2 = 4.0;
 double doubleResult = doubleValue1 + doubleValue2;

 System.out.println("Double: " + doubleResult);

 boolean booleanValue = true;

 System.out.println("Boolean: " + booleanValue);

 char charValue = 'A';

 System.out.println("Char: " + charValue);
 }
 }

Output

Byte: 6

Short: 6

Int: 6

Long: 6

Float: 6.0

Double: 6.0

Boolean: true

Char: A