James Gosling initiated Java language project in June 1991 for use in one of his many set-top box projects. The language, initially called ‘Oak’ after an oak tree that stood outside Gosling’s office, also went by the name ‘Green’ and ended up later being renamed as Java, from a list of random words.
Sun released the first public implementation as Java 1.0 in 1995. It promised Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA), providing no-cost run-times on popular platforms.
On 13 November, 2006, Sun released much of Java as free and open source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
On 8 May, 2007, Sun finished the process, making all of Java’s core code free and open-source, aside from a small portion of code to which Sun did not hold the copyright.
Tools You Will Need
For performing the examples discussed in this tutorial, you will need a Pentium 200-MHz computer with a minimum of 64 MB of RAM (128 MB of RAM recommended).
You will also need the following softwares −
- Linux 7.1 or Windows xp/7/8 operating system
- Java JDK 8
- Microsoft Notepad or any other text editor
This tutorial will provide the necessary skills to create GUI, networking, and web applications using Java.
The next chapter will guide you to how you can obtain Java and its documentation. Finally, it instructs you on how to install Java and prepare an environment to develop Java applications.