JAVA SDK

JAVA SDK

Java technology is very pervasive and subsequently found its way into all sorts of electronic devices,  hence it's much talked about in most technology circles, yet there are countless multinational corporations,  organisations, conglomerate, trades and business people who still have no idea what Java really is. So "What exactly is Java?"  You may ask.

Java is a technology that forks into two areas, the first a high-level computer programming language and the second, a computer software-only platform environment. As a computer language, it rivals every other for its simplicity, its architectural neutrality and platform-independence, its portability, its high level of performance,  its security, its inter-nationality and its multi-threading ability, but its uniqueness and excellence doesn't end there.

As a computer software-only platform environment, it rivals every other hardware based computer platforms with its machine-independent bytecode -the machine language of the JVM (java Virtual Machine)- which gives it its platform neutrality,  also  for its applet/servlet/OO bean technology, for its distributability, for its industrial strength multi-tier web services, for its robustness, but once again, its uniqueness and excellence as a software-only platform that runs on other hardware based platforms, doesn't end there.

Because of its versatility Java now comes in three flavours, viz Java Standard Edition (Java SE), Java Enterprise edition (Java EE) and Java Micro Edition (Java ME), Making it  the language of choice for developing enterprise and mobile applications. As mentioned in the previous blog, Java is the brainchild of Sun Microsystems  which was subsequently acquired by Oracle Corporation. Most of the Sun Servers are now re-branded as Sun Oracle servers, but that just semantics.

Here is the link to download for the Java SDK, and it's absolutely free. Accept the licence agreement, select your platform. viz, Solaris SPARC,  Solaris SPARC 64-bit, Solaris (x86 or x64), Linux (x86 or x64)  Windows (x86 or x64), then download

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html

The file that downloads would be named something like this, jdk-7u71-windows-i586.exe and have the streaming cup of java as a favicon. Once again platform dependant run the executable and accept the default installation subdirectories. This installation will contain the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and the JRE (java Runtime Environment) and whatever else you need to write your first Java Program.

Next I will cover CLASSPATH and show you how to create your first executable Java program.

JAVA COURSE

AN EDUCATION IN JAVA

Java is currently the foremost computer programming language in the world and definitely the best computer programming language to learn. It is much easier to learn than C, or C++, and rivals several other computer programming languages like, Delphi, Perl and Microsoft's C# and Visual Basic for simplicity, hands down. This blog will make it easy for you to learn Java.

James Gosling developer of  the Java Programming language at Sun Microsystems, now Oracle

The Java programming language was designed by James Gosling of Sun Microsystems during the early 90's. It was released as a free java download development kit in 1995, with some Java web services incorporated into Web browsers. This launch was also accompanied by major publicity, and lots of hype, promises and predictions. As such, Sun Microsystems made an impression on the masses and Java was very well received. It all started off with the Java applet running in web browsers, and  strengthening its position as a general programming language with each major version released. Java Sun lived up to the expectations caused by its launch hype in virtually every respect, to the point that Java has evolved into an exceptional platform for building fully fledged web-based enterprise end to end solutions. Java commands a huge stake in the Internet space and its success is revolutionary because Java a runs on more than 3 Billion devices throughout the world.

FREE JAVA SDK DOWNLOAD

More than 3 Billion Devices Run Java Currently. With the IoT this will triple by 2020

To sum-up Java's success in the words of Bill joy, CEO and cofounder of Sun Microsystems when interviewed in 2004. He said,

 "This represents the end result of nearly 15 years of trying to come up with a  better programming language and environment for building simpler and more reliable software".

Bill is no soothsayer but he was right on the button, because today, there are more than 2.8 million professional Java programmers globally, hoards more than C++ programmers, yet professional Java programmers are still in very short supply and in great demand. Be that as it may, as a Java Developer I am intend to use this blog to share my Java knowledge and expertise with all you wannabe Java coders, especially the next generation of kids.  I will be covering the Java basics and the not so basic Java information, to at least get your foot into the proverbial Java door.

Question:- What does modern day Desktop Computers, Notebooks, Palmtops, Web and application Servers, Smart cards, Printers, Blu-Ray Players, Programmable Logic Controllers, Televisions, Routers, cell phones, Amazon kindle readers, Parking meters, POS terminals, Access control Systems, Network Switches, Aeroplane systems, Wireless M2M modules, IoT gateways, Set-top-boxes, Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), Lottery systems, Credit cards and Home security systems all have in common.

Answer:- Java or Java JRE, or JVM.
If you didn't know this, then you definitely need to spend some time reading this blog.

WHAT IS JAVA?

Before I answer that, let me clear up the confusion and misconceptions regarding what Java is and what Java is not. Java is an industrial strength OOP, true compiled language that is platform neutral and is delivered as Java SE (Java Standard Edition) and Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition). It's platform independence is achieved with its JRE (Java Runtime Environment), running uncompiled Java programs converted to compiled bytecode prior to execution.

JSF is Java - Java Server Pages is server-side scripting language with high level capabilities to create Java servlets on the fly. It is essentially a Java alternative to CGI (Common Gateway Interface) that is used for server-side scripts written in Perl, C, Python, PHP, etc.

JSP is Java - Java Server Faces is a framework for Java developers that standardising UI (User interface) components for Java EE Web Applications. It can be said to be a combination of Jakarta Struts and Swing- the Java GUI (graphic user interface)  that replaced AWT.

JQuery is NOT Java, but rather an open-source Ajax library / toolkit like Dojo, Mootools, or Jackbe.

JavaScript / Java script is NOT Java, but rather a lightweight interpreted programming language with object orientated capabilities. It is a client-side scripting language for developing dynamic web content.

Eclipse is NOT Java, but rather the de facto open-source IDE (Integrated Development Environment) used by more than 50% of all Java Programmers globally in preference of Sun's Forte, Inprise's JBuilder, IntelliJ IDEA or Netbeans IDE. Eclipse is also more feature rich than all of them and is regularly flouted as the world's most popular Java development environment.

JAVA COURSE

Java is very different from other computer programming languages yet similar. Firstly its a Java application server, Java web application server, then a Java web framework capable of Java web services. Much like the English finds its roots in German and French and Afrikaans finds its roots in Dutch, so does Java finds its roots in computer programming languages that preceded it, like C for example. Both C and Java use a routine named 'Main' to start off a program, both mandate a semicolon to end executable statements, both use curly braces to mark blocks of code, both are OOP languages, to mention but a few. However, Java does type checking where some other languages do not. Java has inheritance where other languages have not. Java has automatic memory management (garbage collection) where other programs do not. Java does exception handling better than other computer languages.

JAVA TUTORIAL

Next we going to download Java 6. As can be seen in the image above, I downloaded Java 7 update 71. In the next blog I'm going to show you how to use the Java offline installer to install Java, then update it to Java 7 or the latest version of Java 8.