Java programs and applications
Java is one of the most widely used object-oriented programming languages. Most of the apps working on the Android operating platform are developed using the concepts of java. With Java, developers can write the code once and run it any platform that supports Java.
Java programs and applications are compiled to byte code that runs on Java Virtual Machine (JVM) irrespective of the computer’s architecture. Java was initially developed by the Sun MicroSystems that was later taken over by Oracle Corporation.
The syntax of the language is derived from C and C++. Due to its nature of being simple, robust and secure, it is widely adopted in the industry. This is the reason learning Java is a major prerequisite for many courses, softwares, and tools.
Types of Java Applications
There are mainly 4 types of applications that can be created using Java programming:
Standalone Application
Standalone applications are also known as desktop applications or window-based applications. These are traditional software that we need to install on every machine. Examples of standalone application are Media player, antivirus, etc. AWT and Swing are used in Java for creating standalone applications.
Web Application
An application that runs on the server side and creates a dynamic page is called a web application. Currently, Servlet, JSP, Struts, Spring, Hibernate, JSF, etc. technologies are used for creating web applications in Java.
Enterprise Application
An application that is distributed in nature, such as banking applications, etc. is called enterprise application. It has advantages of the high-level security, load balancing, and clustering. In Java, EJB is used for creating enterprise applications.
Mobile Application
An application which is created for mobile devices is called a mobile application. Currently, Android and Java ME are used for creating mobile applications.
Features of Java
Java offers plenty of attractive features
- Platform independent language
- Rich standard library making it easy to code. You can create a whole stand-alone application using Java.
- Java supports automatic memory allocation and deallocation (called garbage collection).
- It offers great performance as Java supports multithreading and concurrency, thus making it a highly interactive and responsive language.
- Secure and simple
