Most of people knows java is required to run most application in today’s world. Java is a most popular language developed to execute on cross platform. It works on most operating systems. All you required is java enviroment to run applications on your system. Java is used to different platforms like to run & develop mobile apps, web apps, desktop apps, games and much more.
Java provides 2 installation packages.
- Java Runtime Enviroment (JRE) – To execute java applications
- Java Development Enviroment (JDE) – To develop java applications
History
Java was introduced in 1995 by a canadian computer scientist James Gosling. Initially it was designed for small, embedded systems in electronic appliances like television & set-top boxes. James Gosling developed at Sun Microsystems (which is now a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation) and released in 1995. Firstly, it was called Greentalk, and the file extension was .gt. then after, it was called Oak and was developed as a part of the Green project.
Why Java was named?
Oak is a symbol of strength and chosen as a national tree of many western countries like the U.S.A., France, Germany, Romania, etc. In 1995, Oak was renamed as “Java” because Oak was already a trademark by Oak Technologies. Since Java was so unique, most of the team members preferred Java than other names. Java is an island in Indonesia where the first coffee was produced (called Java coffee). It is a kind of espresso bean. Java name was chosen by James Gosling while having a cup of coffee nearby his office.
JDK 1.0 was released on January 23, 1996. After the first release of Java, there have been many additional features added to the language. Now Java is being used in Windows applications, Web applications, enterprise applications, mobile applications, cards, etc. Each new version adds new features in Java.
Versions
Many java versions have been released till now. The current stable release of Java is Java SE 10.
| Version | Release Year |
| JDK Alpha & Beta | 1995 |
| JDK 1.0 | 1996 |
| JDK 1.1 | 1997 |
| J2SE 1.2 | 1998 |
| J2SE 1.3 | 2000 |
| J2SE 1.4 | 2002 |
| J2SE 5.0 | 2004 |
| Java SE 6 | 2006 |
| Java SE 7 | 2011 |
| Java SE 8 | 2014 |
| Java SE 9 | 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 | Mar 2021 |
| Java SE 17 | September 2021 |
| Java SE 18 | to be released by March 2022 |
What is JDK, J2SE, Java SE and Java EE?
JDK stands for Java Development Kit which provides basic java development materials. J2SE stands for Java 2 Standard Edition. Java SE stands for Java Standard Edition and Java EE is Java Enterprise Edition
