Java Tutorials | History of Java

Java Version History

The history of Java is very interesting. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it was too advanced technology for the digital cable television industry at the time. Java team members initiated this project to develop a language for digital devices such as set-top boxes, televisions, etc. However, it was suited for internet programming. Later, Java technology was incorporated by Netscape.

The principles for creating Java programming were Simple, Robust, Portable, Platform-independent, Secured, High Performance, Multithreaded, Architecture Neutral, Object-Oriented, Interpreted and Dynamic.

Currently, Java is used in internet programming, mobile devices, games, e-business solutions, etc. There are given significant points that describe the history of Java.

Java History from Oak to Java

James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton initiated the Java language project in June 1991. Originally designed for small, embedded systems in electronic appliances like set-top boxes.

The small team of sun engineers called Green Team so it was called Greentalk by James Gosling, and file extension was .gt.

After that, it was called Oak and was developed as a part of the Green project.

Why Java named "Oak"?

Oak is a symbol of strength and chosen as a national tree of many countries like the U.S.A., France, Germany, Romania, etc.

In 1995, Oak was renamed as "Java" because it was already a trademark by Oak Technologies.

Why Java Programming named "Java"?

The team gathered to choose a new name. The suggested words were "dynamic", "revolutionary", "Silk", "jolt", "DNA", etc. They wanted something that reflected the essence of the technology: revolutionary, dynamic, lively, cool, unique, and easy to spell and fun to say.

According to James Gosling, "Java was one of the top choices along with Silk". Since Java was so unique, most of the team members preferred Java than other names.

• Java is an island of Indonesia where first coffee was produced (called java coffee).
• Notice that Java is just a name, not an acronym.
• Initially developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems (which is now a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation) and released in 1995.

In 1995, Time magazine called Java one of the Ten Best Products of 1995. JDK 1.0 released in (January 23, 1996).

Java Version History

Many java versions have been released till now. See details below.

JDK Alpha and Beta (1995)

JDK 1.0 (23rd Jan 1996)

JDK 1.1 (19th Feb 1997)

J2SE 1.2 (8th Dec 1998)

J2SE 1.3 (8th May 2000)

J2SE 1.4 (6th Feb 2002)

J2SE 5.0 (30th Sep 2004)

Java SE 6 (11th Dec 2006)

Java SE 7 (28th July 2011)

Java SE 8 (18th March 2014)

Java SE 9 (21st Sep 2017)

Java SE 10 (20th March 2018)