JAVA Features:

• Platform independence (Portable):
            Unlike many other programming languages including C and C++ when Java is compiled, it is not compiled into platform specific machine, rather into platform independent byte code. This byte code is distributed over the web and interpreted by virtual Machine (JVM) on whichever platform it is being run.

• Secure:

Java was designed to allow secure execution of code across network. To make Java secure many of the features of C and C++ were eliminated. Java does not use Pointers. Java programs cannot access arbitrary addresses in memory.

• Dynamic incremental loading and linking:

Java programs carry with them substantial amounts of run-time type information that is used to verify and resolve accesses to objects at run time. This makes it possible to dynamically link code in a safe and expedient manner. 

• Automatic Garbage Collector:

Automatic garbage collection is another great feature of Java with which it prevents inadvertent corruption of memory. Similar to C++, Java has a new operator to allocate memory on the heap for a new object. But it does not use delete operator to free the memory as it is done in C++ to free the memory if the object is no longer needed. It is done automatically with garbage collector.

• Multithreaded:

One of the powerful aspects of the Java language is that it allows multiple threads of execution to run concurrently within the same program A single Java program can have many different threads executing independently and continuously.

• Systematic class, package, and source file naming.
• GUI and graphics programming.
• Web and network applications support.
• Internationalization (programs in Unicode).

• Totally Object-oriented.

Overview of JAVA

                Object-oriented programming (OOP) is at the core of Java. In fact, all Java programs are object-oriented—this isn’t an option the way that it is in C++, for example. OOP is so integral to Java that you must understand its basic principles before you can write even simple Java programs.

                Java is a simple, object-oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust, secure architecture, portable, high performance, multi-threaded, dynamic and extensible language.

                J2ME (JAVA2 MICRO EDITION) ==> Smart card, Cell phone and Pager.

                J2SE (JAVA2 STANDARD EDITION) ==> Desktop and small network.

                J2EE (JAVA2 ENTERPRISE EDITION) ==> Large scale network and WAP services.

History Of JAVA

            Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems (which is now a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation).

In 1991, a small group of Sun engineers called the "Green Team" believed that the next wave in computing was the union of digital consumer devices and computers.

               James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton initiated the Java language project in June 1991. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it was too advanced for the digital cable television industry at the time. The language was initially called Oak after an oak tree and was later renamed Java, in 1995. Gosling aimed to implement a virtual machine and a language that had a familiar C/C++ style of notation.
           Since 1995, Java has changed our world . . . and our expectations...