The Java Portal
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Java history
The Java platform and language began as an internal project at Sun Microsystems in December 1990, providing an alternative to the C++/C programming languages. Engineer Patrick Naughton had become increasingly frustrated with the state of Sun's C++ and C APIs (application programming interfaces) and tools. While considering moving to NeXT, Naughton was offered a chance to work on new technology and thus the Stealth Project was started.
The Stealth Project was soon renamed to the Green Project with James Gosling and Mike Sheridan joining Naughton. Together with other engineers, they began work in a small office on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. They were attempting to develop a new technology for programming next generation smart appliances, which Sun expected to be a major new opportunity.
The team originally considered using C++, but it was rejected for several reasons. Because they were developing an embedded system with limited resources, they decided that C++ demanded too large a footprint and that its complexity led to developer errors. The language's lack of garbage collection meant that programmers had to manually manage system memory, a challenging and error-prone task. The team was also troubled by the language's lack of portable facilities for security, distributed programming, and threading. Finally, they wanted a platform that could be easily ported to all types of devices.
Bill Joy had envisioned a new language combining the best of Mesa and C. In a paper called Further, he proposed to Sun that its engineers should produce an object-oriented environment based on C++. Initially, Gosling attempted to modify and extend C++ (which he referred to as "C++ ++ --") but soon abandoned that in favor of creating an entirely new language, which he called Oak, after the tree that stood just outside his office.
By the summer of 1992, they were able to demonstrate portions of the new platform including the Green OS, the Oak language, the libraries, and the hardware. Their first attempt, demonstrated on September 3, 1992, focused on building a PDA device named Star7 which had a graphical interface and a smart agent called "Duke" to assist the user. In November of that year, the Green Project was spun off to become firstperson, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, and the team relocated to Palo Alto, California. The firstperson team was interested in building highly interactive devices, and when Time Warner issued an RFP for a set-top box, firstperson changed their target and responded with a proposal for a set-top box platform. However, the cable industry felt that their platform gave too much control to the user and firstperson lost their bid to SGI. An additional deal with The 3DO Company for a set-top box also failed to materialize. Unable to generate interest within the TV industry, the company was rolled back into Sun.
Selected picture
Here is a photo of Sand Hill Road along which Java began as Green.
Selected biography
Patrick Naughton (born in 1965) is an American software developer, best known as being one of the original creators of the Java programming language.
As a Sun engineer, Patrick Naughton had become increasingly frustrated with the state of Sun's C++ and C APIs (application programming interfaces) and tools. While considering moving to NeXT, Naughton was offered a chance to work on new technology and thus the Stealth Project was started.
The Stealth Project was soon renamed to the Green Project with James Gosling and Mike Sheridan joining Naughton. Together with other engineers, they began work in a small office on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. They were attempting to develop a new technology for programming next generation smart appliances, which Sun expected to be a major new opportunity.
In June and July 1994, after three days of brainstorming with John Gage, the Director of Science for Sun, James Gosling, Bill Joy, Naughton, Wayne Rosing, and Eric Schmidt, the team re-targeted the platform for the World Wide Web. They felt that with the advent of the first graphical web browser, Mosaic, the Internet was on its way to evolving into the same highly interactive medium that they had envisioned for cable TV. As a prototype, Naughton wrote a small browser, WebRunner, later renamed HotJava.
Did you know...
- ... that both the Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer browser designs are descended from the Mosaic web browser?
- ... that Netscape was the first web browser to support Java, other than Java's own HotJava Browser?
- ... that Java SE 6 is code-named Mustang?
- ... that Java Runtime Environment is found on over 700 million PCs?
- ... that in 2008 Hewlett-Packard created a prototype of the theoretical fourth and last passive circuit element, the memristor (first devised in 1971), that may one day revolutionize electronics?
Quiz
1. Who said: "There's only one trick in software, and that is using a piece of software that's already been written."?
2. When was Java first released?
3. Why is JavaScript thus named if it is essentially unrelated to Java?
4. Which was Java's original name: Green, Oak, Stealth, C++ ++ --, firstperson, Duke or Coffee?
5. True or False: An Interface can never be private or protected?
- Answer (External link)
Java topics (all)
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- List of Blu-ray disc replicating machines manufacturers
- List of DVD recordable manufacturers
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From bot (AlexNewArtBot):
(These articles are the ones recently identified as possibly Java-related but yet unconfirmed) This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.
Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2016-04-06 19:58 (UTC)
Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.
- Dokan Library ( | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Didulive (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2016-04-06, score: 30
- Jello framework ( | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Yoramhod (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2016-04-01, score: 21
- Don Chan ( | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Love Krittaya (talk · contribs · new pages (3)) started on 2016-04-01, score: 20
- WeeScript Automation ( | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Mitchellfranklin (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2016-03-31, score: 30
- Oracle TopLink ( | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Krunal3103 (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2016-03-23, score: 30
- Fort Mocks ( | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Karldahlgren (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2016-03-23, score: 30
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Science:
- March 12: U.S. Secret Service conducts drone exercise
- February 14: University of Utah study finds suicide may be linked to air pollution
- February 1: Fire ravages large academic library in Moscow
- January 31: Rare megamouth shark found dead in Pio Duran, Philippines
- January 30: Scientists find ancient solar system in Milky Way galaxy
- January 11: SpaceX launches fifth resupply rocket to International Space Station
- January 10: Researchers say light signal from space suggests merging black holes
- December 8: Orion Spacecraft accomplishes first spaceflight test
- November 20: FAA: Metroplex NextGen project in place in north Texas
- November 13: Philae space probe lands on comet
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Created to imitate a buzzer into a microphone and then taking a 0.05 second clip and repeating it over and over with Java so it actually sounds like a buzzer.
Selected video
Learn about some of the new and cool features in JDK 7 with Danny Coward, Chief Architect for Client Software at Sun Microsystems:
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- 1992: Java 0 (Oak)
- 1995: Java 1.0
- 1997: Java 1.1
- 1998: Java 1.2
- 2000: Java 1.3
- 2002: Java 1.4
- 2004: Java 5
- 2006: Java 6
- 2011: Java 7
- 2014: Java 8
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