In 1990, Sun Microsystems commissioned a handful of its employees the monumental task of anticipating the next big craze in the computer industry. Initially, this team of technological prophets concluded that the next big trend would be the integration of digitally controlled consumer devices and computers. The team then set out to design a platform that could be used in every component including the remote control, the toaster, gaming machines, the VCR, and of course, the computer. Originally, the Green team intended on using C++ for its project, but it soon became apparent that C++ would not meet its needs. Instead, the team developed a new high-level, object-oriented language named Oak. Oak was designed as closely as possible to C++, keeping much of its syntax and structure. Some of the features considered to be unnecessary or overly complicated were intentionally excluded. Keeping the design close to the heavily used C++ meant that the transition to Oak would be easy for programmers.
In 1994, Sun decided to reconstruct Oak and gear the direction of the language towards the Internet. This move was a fundamental decision for the future of the language and significantly changed the face of the Internet. The newly modified language, apart from being able to create stand-alone applications, was able to create applets that could be transmitted over the Internet.These applets, and their possible uses, generated a great deal of excitement in the Internet world.
Basically, applets are programs designed to run inside a Web browser. Applets allow the animation of Web pages. This new feature sparked considerable excitement for the Internet surfing public.This excitement, however, was tempered as animation overuse and on some pages created a lot of frustration for those connecting to the Internet with slow dial-up connections. Of course, because the speed of Internet access has increased considerably, it has alleviated the previous frustrations of low speed connections. Now Java flourishes all over the Internet bringing users an abundant variety ofWeb page animations as well as providing everything from interactive programs to games.
Eventually, this new language needed a new name, and soon the name Oak was discarded and replaced with Java. In an industry previously dominated with humorless names, such as C++, Delphi, and Visual Basic, the name Java opened a floodgate of potential coffee puns. There was no shortage of writers and companies eager to take advantage of the new opportunity, seemingly unwilling or unable to stop until all coffee related references had been utterly and completely exhausted.This book will endeavor to avoid the apparently unstoppable Java pun machine.
Along Comes Java for Programming
Java is widely regarded as the tool used to spice up Web pages, adding sound, pictures, or video to an otherwise mundane Web page. To gain widespread acceptance, however, Java had to offer considerably more than the capability to animate Web pages. Because Java has this animation capability and does it well, it has almost become typecast in this role. It is true that Java has a strong association with the Internet, but Java is not limited to the creation of quality Web counters. Java has become a viable development tool able to seduce programmer's loyalties away from the status quo.
Portability
In just a few short years, the popularity of Java has skyrocketed, propelling the language into the often skeptical, mainstream programming world. This popularity was partially inspired by its slogan-"write once, run anywhere"-truly a bold statement from the creators of the Java language. Essentially, the implication behind the statement is that code written for Java is portable, meaning that it can be written once and used on several different operating systems. With most other languages, written code, or programs, are translated into machine code with the use of compilers. The code translated by the compiler is understood only by the operating system it is translated for. Consequently, the program needs to be recompiled for other operating systems. Java avoids this redundant programming with the use of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The introduction of this virtual machine and the write once promise significantly reduces the work programmers need to do and perhaps also, inadvertently, reduces the increasing number of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome claims.
Distributed Computing
Portability and the "write once" promise may perk the interest of some programmers, but those employing these programmers may be less concerned with convenience and more concerned with Java's capability to perform as a useful business and company tool. Managers can rest easy as the benefits of Java extend well into the business world. Java was intended to have a significant impact in the area of distributed, or client/server, computing. Distributed computing is a type of computing where the objects comprising an application can be located on different computers on a network. The purpose for segregating components may be for security reasons or for centralized administration.
Java was designed to provide a simpler method of delivering client/server, or distributed, applications that run over the internal local area network (LAN). It quickly became a viable alternative to the heavily used C++ for such application development. Java simplifies the deployment of applications over a network and can save a company money in the process. Java's portability allows applications to be shared over the network without needing to modify any computer platform, saving time and money that would have been needed to write programs for multiple platforms.
