Java

Java A programming language which was developed by Sun Microsystems. It has a number of features which make it an excellent medium for developing programs for the Internet. The first is the fact that it contains a large number of facilities for carrying out tasks such as connecting to another computer on the Internet and sending data to it. Before the development of Java this type of processing was carried out in programming languages such as C and C++ and required some very arcane programming. The facilities in Java for carrying out tasks such as communicating with a computer using TCP-IP has meant that programs which were hundreds of lines in length have been reduced to tens of lines. The other feature which almost certainly attracted much of the hype that revolved around Java in 1996 and 1997 was the fact that it enabled programming code to be embedded within a WEB PAGE. Up until that time most WEB SITES were, at best, SECOND-GENERATION WEB SITES and, for example, included very little animation or interactivity. One of the main features of Java is its ability to develop programs known as APPLETS. These are programs that can be embedded in a Web page and which can be executed via a BROWSER. Applets can implement a diverse number of functions: for example, they can be used to embed forms in a page, to produce animations, and to interact with databases which are stored on the SERVER where the Web page originated. A third feature of Java which is not directly connected with the Internet, but which has attracted a huge amount of attention is the fact that Java programs are claimed to be portable across a wide variety of computer operating systems. The compiler for the Java programming language produces code known as byte code. This code is a computer-independent low-level language. It can be executed on any operating system which contains a piece of software known as an INTERPRETER. Because this interpreter can easily be implemented on a computer system this means that, in theory, Java programs written for one operating system, say Windows 98, can be transferred to another system such as UNIX just by moving the file containing the byte code without recompiling the program. There has been a major debate raging in the late 1990s about this portability issue; what can be said is that the original Sun aim of total portability is gradually being achieved. This portability has given rise to a major disagreement between Sun and Microsoft, the company which developed the Windows operating systems and other software products, over the licensing of the original Java system produced by Sun, and has led to a number of legal cases. Java resembles the programming language C++—indeed it is a superset of the language which is known as an OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE and hence is somewhat more difficult to learn than earlier languages such as C. Java should not be regarded solely as a programming language but more as a technology. For example, it has given rise to a software reuse model known as JAVA BEANS, a new way of programming servers using programs called SERVLETS, and a model of interconnectivity known as JINI which enables a diverse number of hardware devices including computers, FAX machines, intelligent overhead projectors, and electronic notebooks to be easily connected together. See also JAVA APPLET RATING SERVICE.