Contemporary Philosopher - the World’s Greatest Language
Aakaash Bhatt
Mr. Brocke
HTZ4U1
March 27th, 2013
The World’s Greatest Language
When given the assignment to research a contemporary philosopher, my first response was to think of the essentials of everyday human life. What components of everyday human life have become necessities over the past few years? What are these aspects that we as humans cannot live without? The world we live in today is technology driven and is constantly evolving as the technology around us evolves. One of the great achievements in modern history was in 1995 when James Gosling revolutionized computer programming and changed the world when he designed Java. Java is a computer programming language which allows programmers to write computer instructions using English based commands, instead of numeric codes. The inception of Java was conjured from the five basic values derived from its designers. Java was created to be: simple, secure, portable, high performance, and lastly independent. Over the years it has evolved as a successful language for use both on and off the internet. A decade later, it’s still an extremely popular language with over 6.5million developers worldwide. At first glance it was difficult for me to understand how and why Java is a contemporary philosopher but after thorough research it’s easy for me to appreciate the philosophy behind Java and its everlasting impact that has truly changed the world.
At the time of Java’s creation, computer programming had not reached the pedestal that it stands at currently. While still being an exceptional technological achievement in its own right, computer programming in the perspective of Gosling and his crew, was lacking in several essential areas and they used this as the motivation to design their platform. They sought a programming language that would be designed to be the simplest yet most secure and dynamic programming language. This relates to Perspectivism, a philosophical view by Freidrich Nietzsche that states that ideals form from specific perspectives of individuals. The philosophy behind Java was unique and different from the programming languages that were widely accepted at the time. Java was considered risky because of how new and unique it was but Java’s perspective on programing in respects to simplicity and portability created an ideal that when came to fruition changed the world. Java’s unique philosophy and perspective allowed for the advancement of many new ideas and projects that were not possible before Java’s language. One amazing concept rooted from Java is The WORA concept. Java source code is compiled into machine independent byte codes thus it can run on any platform installed with java. It is the reason that the same games you play on your Apple products can also be played on Android products. By being independent of the platform for which it will be used, Java revolutionized portability and made it easy to program for many different platforms using only one programming code! When you ask someone the one thing they can’t live without they will say their cell phone. Amazingly enough Java is the program that powers the Android architecture. Without Java’s amazing independent coding there would be no Android! Also, Java’s simplicity allowed for amateurs and beginners to program confidently without having to know advanced computer terminology and coding, which opened the opportunity for many more people to create amazing programs and follow their dreams, as you don’t need to be an expert in computer programming to use Java.
Technology is always evolving. Java has adapted since its initial arrival onto the scene and as time has passed it has developed into an even better programming language. This is similar to the Philosophy of Progress, which is a reflection of the theory of human evolution. Humans have grown and evolved to adapt to our changing environments. Likewise, Java has also evolved. Throughout the years Java has had many updates and has evolved into powering different products from simple flash games to the internet to video games to Blu-ray players. Java is never at rest as it always creating new projects that will again change the world. Some notable projects of Java that have become a staple in the world today are almost impossible to imagine life without and because Java is powering these, it is impossible to imagine a life without Java. Java powers computers, printers, routers, cell phones, e-readers, parking meters, vehicle diagnostic systems, ATMs, government IDs, public transportation passes, credit cards, MRIs, CAT scans, VOIP, robots, on-board computer systems, smart grid meters, home security systems, airplane systems, lottery systems, televisions, cable boxes, Blu-ray Disc systems, and more.