JAVA was developed by Sun Microsystems Inc in 1991, later acquired by Oracle Corporation. It was developed by James Gosling and Patrick Naughton. It is a simple programming language. Writing, compiling and debugging a program is easy in java. It helps to create modular programs and reusable code.
Java is a platform independent language
Compiler(javac) converts source code (.java file) to the byte code (.class file). As mentioned above, JVM executes the bytecode produced by compiler. This byte code can run on any platform such as Windows, Linux, Mac OS etc. Which means a program that is compiled on windows can run on Linux and vice-versa. Each operating system has different JVM, however the output they produce after execution of bytecode is same across all operating systems. That is why we call java as platform independent language.
Java is an object oriented language.
Object oriented programming is a way of organizing programs as collection of objects, each of which represents an instance of a class. 4 main concepts of Object-Oriented programming are:
1. Abstraction
2. Polymorphism
3. Inheritence
4. Encapsulation
Simple Java is considered as one of simple language because it does not have complex features like Operator overloading, Multiple inheritance, pointers and Explicit memory allocation. Robust Language Robust means reliable. Java programming language is developed in a way that puts a lot of emphasis on early checking for possible errors, that’s why java compiler is able to detect errors that are not easy to detect in other programming languages.
The main features of java that makes it robust are garbage collection, Exception Handling and memory allocation. Secure We don’t have pointers and we cannot access out of bound arrays (you get Array Index Out of Bounds Exception if you try to do so) in java. That’s why several security flaws like stack corruption or buffer overflow is impossible to exploit in Java. Java is distributed – Using java programming language we can create distributed applications. RMI (Remote Method Invocation) and EJB (Enterprise Java Beans) are used for creating distributed applications in java.
In simple words: The java programs can be distributed on more than one system that are connected to each other using internet connection. Objects on one JVM (java virtual machine) can execute procedures on a remote JVM. Multithreading Java supports multithreading. Multithreading is a Java feature that allows concurrent execution of two or more parts of a program for maximum utilisation of CPU APPLICATIONS Java language was developed by Sun Microsystems in 1995. In subsequent years, the language has become the backbone of millions of applications across multiple platforms including Windows, Macintosh and UNIX-based desktops, Android-based mobiles, embedded systems and enterprise solutions.
According to Oracle (that acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010), Java now runs on more than 3 billion devices. Types of Applications that Run on Java 1. Desktop GUI Applications: Java provides GUI development through various means like Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT), Swing and JavaFX. While AWT contains a number of pre-constructed components such as menu, button, list, and numerous third-party components, Swing, a GUI widget toolkit, additionally provides certain advanced components like trees, tables, scroll panes, tabbed panel and lists. JavaFX, a set of graphics and media packages, provides Swing interoperability, 3D graphic features and self-contained deployment model which facilitates quick scripting of Java applets and applications. 2. Mobile Applications: Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME or J2ME) is a cross- platform framework to build applications that run across all Java supported devices, including feature phones and smart phones.
Further, applications for Android, one of the most popular mobile operating systems, are usually scripted in Java using the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) or other environments. 3. Embedded Systems: Embedded systems, ranging from tiny chips to specialized computers, are components of larger electromechanical systems performing dedicated tasks. Several devices, such as SIM cards, blue-ray disk players, utility meters and televisions, use embedded Java technologies. According to Oracle, 100% of Blu-ray Disc Players and 125 million TV devices employ Java. 4.Web Applications: Java provides support for web applications through Servlets, Struts or JSPs.
The easy programming and higher security offered by the programming language has allowed a large number of government applications for health, social security, education and insurance to be based on Java. Java also finds application in development of eCommerce web applications using open-source eCommerce platforms, such as Broadleaf. 5. Web Servers and Application Servers: The Java ecosystem today contains multiple Java web servers and application servers. While Apache Tomcat, Simple, Jo!, Rimfaxe Web Server (RWS) and Project Jigsaw dominate the web server space, WebLogic, WebSphere, and Jboss EAP dominate commercial application server space. 6. Enterprise Applications: Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) is a popular platform that provides API and runtime environment for scripting and running enterprise software, including network applications and web-services. Oracle claims Java is running in 97% of enterprise computers.
The higher performance guarantee and faster computing in Java has resulted in high frequency trading systems like Murex to be scripted in the language. IMPLEMENTATION 1) Android Apps – If you want to see where Java is used, you are not too far away. Open your Android phone and any app, they are actually written in Java programming language, with Google's Android API, which is similar to JDK. Couple of years back Android has provided much needed boost and today many Java programmer are Android App developer. By the way android uses different JVM and different packaging, as we have seen in our previous article about how Android app works, but code is still written in Java. 2) Server Apps at Financial Services Industry Java is very big in Financial Services.
Lots of global Investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Barclays, Standard Charted and other banks use Java for writing front and back office electronic trading system, writing settlement and confirmation systems, data processing projects and several others. Java is mostly used to write server-side application, mostly without any front end, which receives data form one server (upstream), process it and sends it other process (downstream). Java Swing was also popular for creating thick client GUIs for traders, but now C# is quickly gaining market share on that space and Swing is out of its breath. 3) Java Web applications Java is also big on E commerce and web application space. You have a lot of Restful services being created using Spring MVC, Struts 2.0 and similar frameworks. Even simple Servlet, JSP and Struts based web applications are quite popular on various government projects. Many of government, healthcare, insurance, education, defense and several other departments have their web application built in Java. 4) Software Tools Many useful software and development tools are written and developed in Java e.g. Eclipse, IntelliJ Idea and NetBeans IDE.
I think they are also most used desktop applications written in Java. Though there was time when Swing was very popular to write thick client, mostly in financial service sector and Investment banks. Now days, Java FX is gaining popularity but still it is not a replacement of Swing and C# has almost replaced Swing in Finance domain. 5) Trading Application Third party trading application, which is also part of bigger financial services industry, also use Java. Popular trading application like Murex, which is used in many banks for front to bank connectivity, is also written in Java. 6) J2ME Apps Though advent of iOS and Android almost killed J2ME market, but still there is large market of low-end Nokia and Samsung handset which uses J2ME. There was time when almost all games, application, which is available in Android are written using MIDP and CLDC, part of J2ME platform.
J2ME is still popular on products like Blu-ray, Cards, Set top boxes etc. One of the reasons of WhatsApp being so popular is because it is also available in J2ME for all those Nokia handset which is still quite big. 7) Embedded Space Java is also big in the embedded space. It shows how capable the platform is, you only need 130 KB to be able to use Java technology (on a smart card or sensor). Originally Java was designed for embedded devices. In fact, this is the one area, which was part of Java's initial campaign of "write once, run anywhere" and looks like it is paying up now. 8) Scientific Applications Nowadays Java is often a default choice for scientific applications, including natural language processing. Main reason of this is because Java is more safe, portable, maintainable and comes with better high-level concurrency tools than C++ or any other language. JOB MARKET JavaScript is already at no 1, if we include typescript then it is way ahead of others. In last 10 years JavaScript rose in backend development and made its presence felt. For frontend development it becoming popular with increase in demand of frameworks like React, Angular Vue etc. JS at front end pulled lot of application development/ Code to frontend. So, backend is not left with Microservices. With advent of technologies like React-Native, PhoneGap, Native Script, Angular Mobile it was already eating up Java in Mobile Development and now new Tech Like Progressive Web Application will totally rule the Mobile Application Development. I strongly feel that it is going to impact Java Mobile Application Developer Jobs in 2020. Java jobs will reduce drastically. Similarly, PWA can be used to create Desktop Application so there in that segment also it will create a huge impact.
That job increases through 2026 should come as good news to anyone considering a career in software development. Over the past few years, as machine-learning algorithms have become more sophisticated, some tech pros have harboured a growing worry that software will take over the bulk of coding work, putting a sizable percentage of developers out of business. If the number of software developer roles increases in coming years, however, that’ll be all the proof anyone needs that developers are at least somewhat immune from automation. But there’s a nuance here: software will almost certainly evolve to the point where it can take over many aspects of coding, meaning that developers in coming years will need to focus more on creativity, project management, and other things that machines can’t do (yet).
