History of Java
The history of Java is an interesting journey that began in the early 1990s and has since become one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. Let's go through the key milestones in the history of Java: 1. Origins(1991-1995): Java's story starts in 1991 when a team of engineers at Sun Microsystems, led by James Gosling, began developing a new programming language for consumer electronic devices. Initially called "Oak," the language was designed for use in interactive television, but the project evolved to focus on internet programming. The name "Java" was chosen later, inspired by the Java which is the island famous for best coffee seeds grown. 2. Public Release (May 23 1995):Sun Microsystems officially released Java 1.0 to the public on May 23 1995. It was introduced with the slogan "Write Once, Run Anywhere" (WORA) to emphasize its platform independence. The Java 1.0 release included the core language features, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and the Java API (Application Programming Interface). 3. Applet Revolution (mid-1990s): Java became popular due to its applet technology, which allowed small programs (applets) to be embedded within web pages and executed by web browsers. This brought interactivity and animation to the web, and Java applets were widely used until browser plugins began to decline in popularity. 4. Introduction of JavaBeans (1996): JavaBeans, introduced in 1996, was a component architecture that allowed developers to create reusable software components in Java. JavaBeans became an essential part of Java's growth and played a significant role in the development of graphical user interfaces (GUIs). 5. Java 2 Platform (1998): There three types of java platform editions
6. Open Sourcing (2006):In November 2006, Sun Microsystems open-sourced Java under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2, making it freely available to developers. The project was named "OpenJDK," and this move contributed to Java's wider adoption and development by the open-source community. 7. Acquisition by Oracle (2010): In January 2010, Oracle Corporation acquired Sun Microsystems, including the rights to Java. Oracle continued to develop and support Java, releasing new versions and updates regularly.
- Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE): In 1998 Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE), was released, introducing significant improvements and expanded features. The J2SE versioning system was used for several years until it was changed to "Java SE" to reflect the Sun Microsystems acquisition by Oracle.
- Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE): J2EE is used for developing robust enterprise applications.
- Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME):J2ME used for developing mobile and embedded systems applications.
| Version | Release |
|---|---|
| JDK 1.0 | 23rd January 1996 |
| JDK 1.1 | 2nd February 1997 |
| J2SE 1.2 | 4th December 1998 |
| J2SE 1.3 | 8th May 2000 |
| J2SE 1.4 | 13th February 2002 |
| Java SE 5 | 29th September 2004 |
| Java SE 6 | 11th December 2006 |
| Java SE 7 | 28th July 2011 |
| Java SE 8 | 18th March 2014 |
| Java SE 9 | 21st September 2017 |
| Java SE 10 | 20th March 2018 |
| Java SE 11 | 25th September 2018 |
| Java SE 12 | 19th March 2019 |
| Java SE 13 | 17th September 2019 |
| Java SE 14 | 17th March 2020 |
| Java SE 15 | 16th September 2020 |
| Java SE 16 | 16th March 2021 |
| Java SE 17 | 14th September 2021 |
| Java SE 18 | 22nd March 2022 |
| Java SE 19 | 20th September 2022 |
| Java SE 20 | 21st March 2023 |
| Java SE 21 | 19th September 2023 |
| Java SE 22 | around March 24 |