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The '''Java''' programming language, developed by Sun Microsystems, is a language aimed at allowing "high-performance", virtual application development.
Java source files (.java files) are typically compiled to an intermediate bytecode (all platform) executable (.class files) and executed by a Java Virtual Machine. Most modern JVMs further compile the bytecode into your processor's native machine code during execution. This native code translation is mostly done via a JIT compiler that is built in the JVM. Some Java compilers (such as GCJ) can compile Java code to native machine code ahead-of-time rather than just-in-time.
The primary benefits of Java are:
- Cross-platform (Write Once, Run Anywhere (if all of the libraries are ported))
- Comprehensive class library (which is thoroughly [http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/documentation/index.html documented])
- Automatic memory management
- Large user community
- Well supported by the open source community and commercial industry (Sun, IBM, Oracle, HP, BEA, Apple Inc, etc.)
Java is used in a variety of environments including desktop applications, embedded device (PDA and wireless phone) applications, server-side web page serving applications (as JSP), and applets embedded in web pages.
There are a variety of arguments regarding Java's performance compared to other popular languages like C++. Some come to the conclusion that the programmer's choices make a bigger difference on performance in each language. Most show that each language is better than the other at specific types of operations (e.g. Java for memory allocation, C++ for numerical operations). An extensive summary of comparisons between Java and C++ can be found on Wikipedia.
According to some sources, Java is currently one of the most popular programming languages in the world.
Useful Java links: