Introduction to Java


Introduction to Java

In this tutorial, we are going to discuss an introduction to java. Java is a must for students and working professionals to become Software Engineers, especially when they are working in Software Development Industry.

Introduction to Java

Let’s discuss some key points of Java.

  • Java language developed by company “SUN microsystems” and created by “James Gosling“.
  • Sun microsystems was started by a group of students who are studying at Stanford University.
  • These people have faced the problem in their room with electronic consumers, i.e., one electronic consumable remote control is not worked on another electronic consumable. These people wanted to develop a common remote control (CRC) which is controlling all the electronic consumables. So they contacted James Gosling and requested the project.
  • Sun microsystems were started by a group of students, out of the one person from India named “Vinod Khosla”.
  • James Gosling and his team members given the project name “GREEN” started in 1990 and 1991. CRC was completed in 1992 and named star7.
  • James Gosling team developed a new language called “OAK”. But this name is already selected by some other company. So it is renamed as “Java”.

Following conversation is the process why named it as Java.

From: James Gosling
Date: December 12, 2012 8:16:58 AM
To: Ashok Kumar
Subject: How was Java named?

Hi Ashok Kumar, The story goes like this

We needed a name and had been using “oak” (which was selected essentially randomly by me), and while the team had grown attached to it, the trademark lawyers ruled it out. We had lots of email debates about names, but nothing got resolved and ended up in an awkward position where the one thing stopping us from shipping was the name.

Our marketing lead knew someone who was a “naming consultant” (I don’t remember his name, but he was great). We could neither afford the price nor the time of a conventional product naming process. He agreed to do something rather odd, but effective and quick: he acted as a facilitator at a meeting where about a dozen of us locked ourselves in a room for an afternoon.

He started asking us questions like “How does this thing make you feel?” (Excited!) “What else makes you feel that way?” (Java!) We ended up with a board covered with essentially random words.

Then he put us through a sorting process where we ended up with a ranking of the names. We ended up with a dozen name candidates and sent them off to the lawyers: they worked down the list until they hit one that cleared their search. “Java” was the fourth name on the list.

The first name on the list was “Silk”, which I hated but everyone else liked. My favorite was “Lyric”, the third one on the list, but it didn’t pass the lawyers test. I don’t remember what the other candidate names were.

So, who named Java? Marketing organized the meeting, the consultant ran it, and a whole pile of us did a lot of yelling out of random words. I’m honestly not really sure who said “Java” first, but I’m pretty sure it was Mark Opperman.

There certainly wasn’t any brilliant marketing mind who went through a coherent thought process.

Thank you,
James Gosling

  • The unofficial abbreviation is “Just Another Virtual Analyse”.
  • Different types of Java versions
Version Name        Code Name         Release Date
------------        ---------         -------------
JDK 1.0             OAK               January 1996
JDK 1.1             ---               February 1997
J2SE 1.2            Play Ground       December 1998
J2SE 1.3            Kestrol           May 2000
J2SE 1.4            Merlin            February 2002
J2SE 5.0            Tiger             Sepetember 2004
Java SE 6           Mustang           December 2006
Java SE 7           Dolphin           July 2011
Java SE 8           ------            March 2014
Java SE 9           ------            July 2017
Java SE 10          ------            March 2018
Java SE 11          ------            September 2018
Java SE 12          ------            March 2019
Java SE 13          ------            September 2019
Java SE 14          ------            March 2020
Java SE 15          ------            September 2020
Java SE 16          ------            March 2021
Introduction to Java

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