Evolution of Java Programming Language: A Comprehensive History

Today, with technology such a part of our daily lives, we take it for granted that we can be connected and access applications and content anywhere, anytime. Because of Java, we expect digital devices to be smarter, more functional, and way more entertaining.

To fully understand Java, one must understand the reasons behind its creation. Computer language innovation and development occurs for two fundamental reasons:

• To adapt to changing environments and uses.
• To implement refinements and improvements in the art of programming.

About Java and History :

• Java was designed by Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s.Sun Microsystems was purchased by Oracle in the 2010s.
• Java was started as a project called "Oak" by a team led by James Gosling in June 1991.Gosling's goals were to implement a virtual machine and a language that had a familiar C like notation but with greater uniformity and simplicity than C/C++.
• The basic aim of java was to solve the problem of connecting many household machines together.
• The project was unsuccessful because no one wanted to use it.
• Earlier Name of Java: OAK
• Creator of Java: James Gosling (the father of Java)
• As there was another language called Oak, they decided to rename OAK. The new name was given to OAK, OAK was renamed Java in 1994s.
• The First publication of Java 1.0 was released by Sun Microsystems in 1995 May 27. It made the promise of "Write Once, Run Anywhere", with free run-times on popular platforms.
• In 2006-2007 Sun released Java as open source and platform independent software.
• Java was targeted at Internet development (for developing Web applications.)
• Applets Had early support from companies: Netscape Communications

Java has become enormously popular. Its rapid rise and wide acceptance can be traced to its design characteristics, particularly its promise that you can write a program once and run it anywhere. As stated by its designer, Java is simple, object oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust, secure, architecture neutral, portable, high performance, multithreaded, and dynamic.

Summary in Table format

Some of the Versions of Java