Java Javascript

Java and JavaScript are languages that evolved because of the Internet. From the evolution of mainframes, to stand-alone PCs, to networked communication, and lastly to the Internet, one thing has been a constant, different languages evolved based on a need. For these two languages, the Internet was a perfect fit, and without them the Internet would be a less dynamic and vibrant highway.

As the Internet grew, more and more people found it a more viable place to do business. With that came a need for languages that were fairly easy to learn, dynamic, secure, portable, and maintainable. The industry answered that call with languages such as Java and JavaScript.

This paper will perform an analysis of both Java and JavaScript. In order for the reader to gain a better understanding of these languages, the history of these languages with overviews will be presented along with a discussion of the benefits and drawbacks.

The History of Java

In the middle of May 1995 Java was introduced into the world, and along with Netscape it would be the new way for Internet users to access this new information superhighway. But before it got to this point, Java technology was developed almost by accident. Back in 1991, Sun Microsystems was looking into the future in anticipation of the future of computing, and they tasked a team that became know as the “Green Project”. Their main focus was to come up with a plan for the future of computing, but what they came out with was something quite unexpected.

Under the guidance of James Gosling, a team was locked away in an external site to work on the project that would define Sun’s technology direction for the future. Their conclusions pointed toward a future that had computers and digitally controlled devices converging. What they came out with was a language called “Oak”, named for the type of tree outside their office window. After failed attempts at selling the technology to the cable industry, the team convened again to determine the future of this new language.

With the realization that the Internet was becoming a good way to move media content, the team took that to heart. What they came out with was a language that would use existing the HTML language, and what it did was revolutionize the Internet, and increase its use dramatically. In 1993, after an easy-to-use front-end to the web called Mosaic showed many that the Internet had many possibilities, the team knew that Java was the right fit for the Industry. Within a few years Java came to be just the technology that it was intended to be.

With the development and acceptance of Java, it soon became apparent that it had been created with several key things in mind. To start with, Java had the capability of being architecture independent, which was truly a look into the future, since today we have so many different ways of accessing the Internet. It was able to do this using the compiler known as Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in order to interpret the language on the user’s machine, thereby eliminating the issue of varied user platforms.

Because Java looked very similar to C and C++, it was easy to learn, which help it to gain acceptance within the programming community fairly quickly. In addition, since the code was put out to the Internet as freeware and all were welcome to help the make the code cleaner, it helped to gain credibility.

With its use of classes, Java is object-oriented, which also gives it the advantage of being a concept that is widely understood and adhered to. In addition, Java is portable, which means that in theory it will work with virtually all types of devices, including PC’s, handheld, and laptops, to name a few. Lastly, Java is distributed which means that programs have the flexibility of using objects that reside on different web servers, and it us secure, especially since you have foreign Internet code running on user’s machines.

Although Java has its benefits, it can also be said that it has its drawbacks. One of the biggest drawbacks for programmers is that it provides single inheritance versus multiple inheritance for other programming languages. Another issue is that Java programs often use more memory than programs written in lower-level languages, while many times the performance of Java can be varied. I addition, something that the user may find unattractive is that GUI applications that have been written in Java can be unpredictable visually, as well as not looking like the native applications.

With that said, the type of growth Java has had since its inception can be nothing short of amazing, not to mention the impact it had on the Internet. So it continues to be used by programmers all over the world, especially if your looking for a dynamic and robust web site.

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