Evolution of Java : Part 2

The year 1995 saw the birth of Java, as a language which could work with the latest web browsers in the form of applets.

It got immediate support from many internet giants.

Now Java, as planned earlier, had to venture into other arenas of programming.

Java 1.1 was introduced in 1996. It became an instant favorite of many big organisations like Microsoft and Netbeans.

The features which made it feel even better were:

• AWT(Abstract Window Toolkit) was extensively retooled: AWT was Java’s Visual Interface for coders or simply GUI. The problem with Java 1.0 version was that the implementation of programs in each platform i.e. Windows, Mac, Linux...looked visually different i.e. platform based. This hindered with the basic USP of Java i.e. Platform Independence. It was extensively re-engineered to give same feel on each platform.
• Inner Classes were introduced: i.e. you could declare a class within another. This was a huge leap in Object Oriented Programming. The modelling of a project became much simpler and easier.
• Java Beans was introduced: Java beans are reusable software components for a code. Its somewhat similar to structures in C, but better, with getter & setter methods(You will have to learn coding to understand this)
• JDBC: Java Database Connectivity,was another great achievement. It allowed user to access databases using Java.
• RMI: Remote Method Invocation. This feature allows a programmer to access remote methods using Java.

The introduction of such features within a year of it launch, added an edge to java’s popularity.

Java became a craze with the Programmers fraternity.

In all it was clear..Java was here to stay!!!

Evolution of Java Part 1

Java by definition is a general-purpose, concurrent, class-based, object-oriented computer programming language that is specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It gained popularity in the late 90’s due to its Platform Independence Feature, giving it a tag line “ Write once, Run Anywhere”.

The evolution of Java has been quite a roller coaster ride. Sun Microsystems, the organisation behind Java, initiated a project in December 1991 to create a Programming tool that could challenge C/C++. The person in-charge was initially Engineer Patrick Naughton. Soon two more people, James Gosling(aka Father of Java) and Mike Sheridan joined Patrick. The team strength soon came up to 13 and work on their secret project started. The project was known as “The Green Project” and the team as “The Green Team”.

As the team progressed on improvising on C++, the motive soon changed from superseding C++ to creating a Language that could bring together Computers and other digital devices. The reason behind this was the insistance of the organisation to anticipate and plan for the next wave in computing technology. Anticipating the convergence of computers and digital devices industry in the near future, team started acting upon the same. In fact, at one time, the focus of the team was entirely on Cable TV industry, due to the boom of Set Top Boxes. The language, the green team was to create, thus had to work on both computers and embedded systems.

James Gosling gathered ideas and made changes to the C++ Language, eventually naming it as C++ ++ --. The ++ and -- meant, putting in and taking out stuff. The Language was later renamed as Oak, on the tree outside Gosling’s house.

By 1993, a significant work had been done on Oak. But this year saw a fall in the technologies of Cable TV, Set Top Boxes and PDAs, forcing the team to think of an alternative plan. The same year, a new web browser was launched by NCSA for internet. The team took this as their cue for the Next wave in Technology and  then started to find ways to use their embeddable technology in web browser, calling it an applet or a small application. For this they tackled a few issues with C++ language and then launched a brand new language with a new name, JAVA.

Duke, a penguin, was introduced as the Java Mascot

Java’s initial alpha and beta versions were unstable on APIs and ABIs. The first stable release was known as Java 1. It gained instant popularity as some big web organisations, incorporated it for their web browsers. The first version was released on Solaris, Windows, MAC OS and Linux. Java was initially released as the Java Development Kit 1.0 (JDK 1.0). This included the Java runtime (the virtual machine and the class libraries), and the development tools (e.g., the Java compiler). Its JVM, which allowed it to be platform independent, became its USP.

This is how Java was born in the Technical industry.

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