What is Java ?

Java is a programming language and a platform.

Java is a high level, robust, secured and object-oriented programming language.

Platform:
Any hardware or software environment in which a program runs, is known as a
platform. Since Java has its own runtime environment (JRE) and API, it is called
platform.
 Where it is used?
According to Sun, 3 billion devices run java. There are
many devices where Java is currently used. Some of
them are as follows:
Desktop Applications such as acrobat reader, media
player, antivirus etc.
Web Applications such as irctc.co.in, javatpoint.com
etc.
Enterprise Applications such as banking applications.
Mobile
Embedded System
 Types of Java Applications
1) Standalone Application
It is also known as desktop application or window-
based application. An application that we need to
install on every machine such as media player,
antivirus etc.
2) Web Application
An application that runs on the server side and
creates dynamic page, is called web application.
Currently, servlet, jsp, struts, jsf etc. technologies
are used for creating web applications in java.
 Types of Java Applications

3) Enterprise Application
An application that is distributed in nature, such
as banking applications etc. It has the advantage
of high level security, load balancing
4) Mobile Application
An application that is created for mobile devices.
Currently Android and Java ME are used for
creating mobile applications.
 Java Platforms / Editions

There are 4 platforms or editions of Java:

1) Java SE (Java Standard Edition)
It is a java programming platform. It includes
Java programming APIs such as java.lang, java.io,
java.net, java.util, java.sql, java.math etc. It
includes core topics like OOPs, String, Regex,
Exception, Inner classes, Multithreading, I/O
Stream, Networking, AWT, Swing, Reflection,
Collection etc.
 Java Platforms / Editions

2) Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition)

It is an enterprise platform which is mainly
used to develop web and enterprise
applications. It is built on the top of Java SE
platform. It includes topics like Servlet, JSP, Web
Services, EJB, JPA etc.
3) Java ME (Java Micro Edition)
It is a micro platform which is mainly used
to develop mobile applications.
 Java Platforms / Editions

4) JavaFx
It is used to develop rich internet applications. It
uses light-weight user interface API.
 Prerequisite

To learn Java, you must have the basic

knowledge of C/C++ programming language.
 History of Java

Java history is interesting to know. The history of

java starts from Green Team. Java team members
(also known as Green Team), initiated a
revolutionary task to develop a language for
digital devices such as set-top boxes, televisions
etc.
Currently, Java is used in internet programming,
mobile devices, games, e-business solutions etc.
There are given the major points that describes
the history of java.
 1) James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick
Naughton initiated the Java language project in
June 1991. The small team of sun engineers
called Green Team.
2) Originally designed for small, embedded
systems in electronic appliances like set-top
boxes.
3) Firstly, it was called "Greentalk" by James
Gosling and file extension was .gt.
4) After that, it was called Oak and was
developed as a part of the Green project.
 Why "Oak" name
5) Why Oak? Oak is a symbol of strength and
choosen as a national tree of many countries
like U.S.A., France, Germany, Romania etc.
6) In 1995, Oak was renamed
as "Java" because it was already a trademark
by Oak Technologies.
 Why "Java" name
7) Why had they choosen java name for java
language? The team gathered to choose a new name. The
suggested words were "dynamic", "revolutionary", "Silk",
"jolt", "DNA" etc. They wanted something that reflected
the essence of the technology: revolutionary, dynamic,
lively, cool, unique, and easy to spell and fun to say.
According to James Gosling "Java was one of the top
choices along with Silk". Since java was so unique, most of
the team members preferred java.
8) Java is an island of Indonesia where first coffee was
produced (called java coffee).
 9) Notice that Java is just a name not an
acronym.
10) Originally developed by James Gosling at
Sun Microsystems (which is now a subsidiary
of Oracle Corporation) and released in 1995.
11) In 1995, Time magazine called Java one of
the Ten Best Products of 1995.
12) JDK 1.0 released in(January 23, 1996).
Features of Java
1) Simple
According to Sun, Java language is simple
because:
syntax is based on C++ (so easier for
programmers to learn it after C++).
removed many confusing and/or rarely-used
features e.g., explicit pointers, operator
overloading etc.
No need to remove unreferenced objects
because there is Automatic Garbage Collection in
java.
 Object-oriented
Object-oriented means we organize our
software as a combination of different types
of objects that incorporates both data and
behaviour.
Object-oriented programming(OOPs) is a
methodology that simplify software
development and maintenance by providing
some rules.
 Basic concepts of OOPs are:
Object
Class
Inheritance
Polymorphism
Abstraction
Encapsulation
Platform Independent :
A platform is the hardware or software environment in
which a program runs.
There are two types of platforms software-based and
hardware-based. Java provides software-based
platform.
The Java platform differs from most other platforms in
the sense that it is a software-based platform that runs
on the top of other hardware-based platforms. It has
two components:
Runtime Environment
API(Application Programming Interface)
 Java code can be run on multiple platforms
e.g. Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, Mac/OS etc.
Java code is compiled by the compiler and
converted into bytecode. This bytecode is a
platform-independent code because it can be
run on multiple platforms i.e. Write Once and
Run Anywhere(WORA).
Secured :
Java is secured because:
No explicit pointer
Java Programs run inside virtual machine
sandbox
 Classloader: adds security by separating the package
for the classes of the local file system from those that
are imported from network sources.
Bytecode Verifier: checks the code fragments for illegal
code that can violate access right to objects.
Security Manager: determines what resources a class
can access such as reading and writing to the local disk.
These security are provided by java language. Some
security can also be provided by application developer
through SSL, JAAS, Cryptography etc.
 Robust
Robust simply means strong. Java uses strong
memory management. There are lack of
pointers that avoids security problem. There is
automatic garbage collection in java. There is
exception handling and type checking
mechanism in java. All these points makes java
robust.
Architecture-neutral
There is no implementation dependent
features e.g. size of primitive types is fixed.
In C programming, int data type occupies 2
bytes of memory for 32-bit architecture and 4
bytes of memory for 64-bit architecture. But
in java, it occupies 4 bytes of memory for both
32 and 64 bit architectures.
Portable
We may carry the java bytecode to any
platform.
 High-performance
Java is faster than traditional interpretation
since byte code is "close" to native code still
somewhat slower than a compiled language
(e.g., C++)
 C++ vs Java
Comparison C++ Java
Index
Platform- C++ is platform-dependent. Java is platform-
independent independent.
Mainly used C++ is mainly used for system Java is mainly used for
for programming. application programming.
It is widely used in window,
web-based, enterprise and
mobile applications.
Goto C++ supports goto statement. Java doesn't support goto
statement.
Multiple C++ supports multiple inheritance. Java doesn't support
inheritance multiple inheritance
through class. It can be
achieved by interfaces in
java.
 C++ vs Java
Comparison C++ Java
Index
Operator C++ supports operator overloading. Java doesn't support operator
Overloading overloading.
Pointers C++ supports pointers. You can write Java supports pointer
pointer program in C++. internally. But you can't write
the pointer program in java. It
means java has restricted
pointer support in java.
Compiler and C++ uses compiler only. Java uses compiler and
Interpreter interpreter both.
Call by Value C++ supports both call by value and Java supports call by value
and Call by call by reference. only. There is no call by
reference reference in java.
 Simple Program of Java

Requirement for Hello Java Example:

install the JDK if you don't have installed
it, download the JDK and install it.
set path of the jdk/bin
directory. http://www.javatpoint.com/how-to-
set-path-in-java
create the java program
compile and run the java program
 Creating hello java example

Creating hello java example

class Simple{
public static void main(String args[]){
System.out.println("Hello Java");
}
}
 save this file as Simple.java
To compile: javac Simple.java
To execute: java Simple
 Understanding first java program

Let's see what is the meaning of class, public,

static, void, main, String[],
System.out.println().
class keyword is used to declare a class in java.
public keyword is an access modifier which
represents visibility, it means it is visible to all.
 static is a keyword, if we declare any method
as static, it is known as static method. The
core advantage of static method is that there
is no need to create object to invoke the static
method. The main method is executed by the
JVM, so it doesn't require to create object to
invoke the main method. So it saves memory.
 void is the return type of the method, it
means it doesn't return any value.
main represents startup of the program.
String[] args is used for command line
argument. We will learn it later.
System.out.println() is used print statement.
We will learn about the internal working of
System.out.println statement later.
 What happens at compile time?

At compile time, java file is compiled by Java

Compiler (It does not interact with OS) and
converts the java code into bytecode.
 What happens at runtime?
At runtime, following steps are performed:
 Classloader: is the subsystem of JVM that is
used to load class files.
Bytecode Verifier: checks the code fragments
for illegal code that can violate access right to
objects.
Interpreter: read bytecode stream then
execute the instructions.
Difference between JDK, JRE and JVM

JVM:
JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is an abstract
machine. It is a specification that provides
runtime environment in which java bytecode can
be executed.
JVMs are available for many hardware and
software platforms. JVM, JRE and JDK are
platform dependent because configuration of
each OS differs. But, Java is platform
independent.
The JVM performs following main tasks:
Loads code
Verifies code
Executes code
Provides runtime environment
JRE:
JRE is an acronym for Java Runtime
Environment.It is used to provide runtime
environment.It is the implementation of JVM.
It physically exists. It contains set of libraries +
other files that JVM uses at runtime.
 JDK
JDK is an acronym for Java Development Kit.It
physically exists. It contains JRE +
development tools.