Java is an Object-Oriented Programming language developed by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s. Unlike conventional languages which are generally designed either to be compiled to native (machine) code, or to be interpreted from source code at runtime, Java is intended to be compiled to a bytecode, which is then run (generally using JIT compilation) by a Java Virtual Machine.The Java Runtime Environment or JRE is the software required to run any application deployed on the Java Platform. End-users commonly use a JRE in software packages and Web browser plugins. Sun also distributes a superset of the JRE called the Java 2 SDK (more commonly known as the JDK), which includes development tools such as the Java compiler, Javadoc, and debugger. Two failures
Java was designed by Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s to solve the problem of connecting many household machines together. This project failed because no one wanted to use it.Then it was redesigned to work with cable TV. This project also failed because the cable companies decided to choose a competing system.
Success
When the World Wide Web became popular in 1994, Sun realized that Java was the perfect programming language for the Web. Early in 1996 (late 1995?) they released Java (previously named Oak) and it was an instant success! It was a success, not because of marketing, but because there was a great need for a language with its characteristics.
Principles
There were five primary goals in the creation of the Java language:
* It should be "simple, object oriented, and familiar".
* It should be "robust and secure".
* It should be "architecture neutral and portable".
* It should execute with "high performance".
* It should be "interpreted, threaded, and dynamic".
