Java
Java is a programming environment developed by industry giant Sun Microsystems. Its “write once, run anywhere” approach has made it an extremely popular language, particularly in the multi-platform, multi-tiered world of internet technologies.
It is a platform independent programming environment, which means that, in theory at least, software written in Java should run on any system – a PC, an Apple Mac, a UNIX box or your Java enabled mobile phone – without having to be modified to suit each system.
How does it work?
The platform independent element of Java is achieved by deploying a standard platform dependent interpreter (the Java Virtual Machine – or JVM) on the system where the Java application will run.
The JVM interprets the compiled java application into the native code of its host machine. Java effectively eliminates the need to port applications between different platforms.
There are three flavours of Java, J2SE (Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition), J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) and J2ME (Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition).
J2SE The Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition defines the core components of the Java environment.
J2EE The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition defines the standard for developing multi-tier enterprise applications.
J2ME The Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition defines the standard for developing Java applications on devices with limited resources.
For more information see Sun's Java site at java.sun.com
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