What is Java?

Before we introduce the Java Platform how about answering a very basic question What is a PC? 

 

Take your time The dictionary definition of computer is that it is an electronic device capable of performing computations It has many peripherals like a monitor and keyboard to accept or display data to users and memory to store information But the heart of the computer is its processor which does all the thinking for the computer? 

 

Coming back to our definition of computer you may have noticed the key word electronic Thinking of it if a computer is an electronic device. How can it understand and display text? 

 

images [videos] and other Rich media information Well a computer understands only electronic signals where a 5 volt current represents a binary 1 and a 0 volt current represents a binary 0 Your PC is continually bombarded with these electronic pulses which it interprets 8 bits of such signals are grouped together and text Numerical and symbols are identified by unique patterns of these 8 electric pulses for example the pound symbol is represented by the pattern 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 instruction to add two numbers is represented by Pattern 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .

 

This is 8-bit computing Current day processors are capable of understanding and decoding 64 bits at a time Suppose you are asked to write a program to add two numbers say add one with two Assembly language is the most elementary form of software development languages? 

 

Your code to add two numbers in this [language] would look like store number [one] at Memory location say A store number two at Memory locations say B add contents of location a and B store results. 

 

The way you feed this code to the processor would depend on the PC. You are using Back in the 50s when computers were huge and consumed a great deal of power you would convert your assembly language code into corresponding machine code of ones and zeros using mapping sheets and Punch the machine code into punch cards and then feed those punch cards to the computer. 

 

With advancement in technology I/o devices were invented you could directly type the program into the PC using a program called Assembler Converted into corresponding machine code and feed that to your processor That apart you will also have to make calls to operating systems providing functions to display the output of code With advancement in software development languages this entire assembly code could be shrinked into just one line printf 1 + 2 A software called compiler is used to convert your C language code into assembly code and the Assembler converts it into corresponding machine code. 

 

Though Present-day compilers come bundled with assembler they can directly convert your higher language code into machine codes Now suppose windows operating system is running on this intel processor Combination of operating system plus the processor is called the platform The most common platform in the world is the windows and intel called the wintel platform the other popular platforms are amd and Linux power PC and Mac os x Now with change in processors the Assembly instructions will change For example the add instruction in intel may be called addition for amd or math add for PowerPC and Obviously with change in operating system the level and nature os level call. 

 

We’ll also change as A developer I want my software program to work on all platforms available to maximize my revenues. 

 

So I would have to buy separate compilers which convert my printf command into the native machine code But compilers come expensive and there’s a chance of compatibility issues Enter Java language the code to display addition of two numbers is system. 

 

Dot out dot printIn 1+2 saved as a dot Java file Using the Java compiler the code is converted into a intermediate code called the bytecode The outcome is a dot class file This code is not understood by any platform, but only a virtual platform called the Java virtual machine. 

 

This virtual machine resides in the ram of your operating system when the virtual machine is fed with this bytecode [it] identifies the platform it is working on and Converts the bytecode into the native machine code in fact while working on your PC Or browsing a web whenever you see either of these icons be assured the Java virtual machine is loaded in your RAM. 

But what makes Java lucrative is that code once compiled can run not only on all PC platforms? 

 

But also Mobile’s or other electronic gadgets supporting Java Hence Java is a language as well as a platform

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