History of java programming language , Java Version History , Why Java Programming named "Java"?

 

History of Java

1. History of Java
2. Java Version History

The history of Java is very interesting. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it was too advanced technology for the digital cable television industry at the time. The history of Java starts with the Green Team. Java team members (also known as Green Team), initiated this project to develop a language for digital devices such as set-top boxes, televisions, etc. However, it was best suited for internet programming. Later, Java technology was incorporated by Netscape. 

Java is a high-level, object-oriented programming language that was first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. It was designed by James Gosling, Patrick Naughton, and other members of the team at Sun Microsystems as a language that could be used to create platform-independent software. The language was named after the island of Java in Indonesia.

Java's popularity grew rapidly due to its simplicity, ease of use, and ability to run on any computer with a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed. This made it a popular choice for developing web applications, mobile apps, and other software that needed to run on a variety of platforms.

In 1999, Sun Microsystems released the Java 2 platform, which included several new features such as the Swing GUI toolkit and support for XML. The release of Java 2 also marked the beginning of the Java Community Process (JCP), which allowed developers to contribute to the development of the Java platform.

Over the years, Java has continued to evolve with new features and updates. In 2006, Sun Microsystems released Java SE 6, which included significant performance improvements and new features such as support for scripting languages and a new database API. In 2011, Oracle Corporation acquired Sun Microsystems, becoming the new owner of the Java platform.

Today, Java remains one of the most popular programming languages in the world, with millions of developers using it to create a wide variety of applications. It is also used extensively in the development of enterprise applications and large-scale software systems. The language continues to evolve with new releases and updates, and the Java community remains active and engaged in its ongoing development.

The principles for creating Java programming were "Simple, Robust, Portable, Platform-independent, Secured, High Performance, Multithreaded, Architecture Neutral, Object-Oriented, Interpreted, and Dynamic". Java was developed by James Gosling, who is known as the father of Java, in 1995. James Gosling and his team members started the project in the early '90s.

Currently, Java is used in internet programming, mobile devices, games, e-business solutions, etc. Following are given significant points that describe 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) Initially it was designed for small, embedded systems in electronic appliances like set-top boxes.

3) Firstly, it was called "Greentalk" by James Gosling, and the file extension was .gt.

4) After that, it was called Oak and was developed as a part of the Green project.

Why Java was named as "Oak"?

5) Why Oak? Oak is a symbol of strength and chosen as a national tree of many countries like the 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 Programming named "Java"?

7) Why had they chose the name Java 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 than other names.

8) Java is an island in Indonesia where the first coffee was produced (called Java coffee). It is a kind of espresso bean. Java name was chosen by James Gosling while having a cup of coffee nearby his office.

9) Notice that Java is just a name, not an acronym.

10) Initially 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 was released on January 23, 1996. After the first release of Java, there have been many additional features added to the language. Now Java is being used in Windows applications, Web applications, enterprise applications, mobile applications, cards, etc. Each new version adds new features in Java.

Java Version History

Many java versions have been released till now. The current stable release of Java is Java SE 10.

1. JDK Alpha and Beta (1995)
2. JDK 1.0 (23rd Jan 1996)
3. JDK 1.1 (19th Feb 1997)
4. J2SE 1.2 (8th Dec 1998)
5. J2SE 1.3 (8th May 2000)
6. J2SE 1.4 (6th Feb 2002)
7. J2SE 5.0 (30th Sep 2004)
8. Java SE 6 (11th Dec 2006)
9. Java SE 7 (28th July 2011)
10. Java SE 8 (18th Mar 2014)
11. Java SE 9 (21st Sep 2017)
12. Java SE 10 (20th Mar 2018)
13. Java SE 11 (September 2018)
14. Java SE 12 (March 2019)
15. Java SE 13 (September 2019)
16. Java SE 14 (Mar 2020)
17. Java SE 15 (September 2020)
18. Java SE 16 (Mar 2021)
19. Java SE 17 (September 2021)
20. Java SE 18 (to be released by March 2022)

Since Java SE 8 release, the Oracle corporation follows a pattern in which every even version is release in March month and an odd version released in September month.