Java is a object-oriented programming language created by Sun Microsystems. It is compiled to an intermediate language called ‘byte code’ that is then interpreted. The interpreted nature allows compiled Java programs to run on different platforms, including FreeBSD, Solaris, Linux, Windows, MacOS and a lot of other operating systems.

An older version of the language can also be compiled to native code by the gcj compiler. Java compilers are produced by Sun, IBM and the open source community.

Due to its intermediate language nature and abstraction from native calls, Java has attracted criticism as being slower than native compiled code like C++ . Additionally Java code must be run in a Java Virtual Machine, which imposes an overhead. The introduction of various just-in-time compilers has negated his effect for long-running program; in fact, potentially Java can be faster as it can use run-time profiling to guide optimizations.

External Links

• More information about Java is available at the About Java page at sun.com.
• The latest stable release of the Java platform can be downloaded from the Java SE 6 download page .
• The upcoming Java 7 platform is currently under development.
• Sun is open-sourcing its Java SE implementation in the OpenJDK project
• More open source java projects from OpenJDK Community
• Java Sample Code Java Samples and Tutorials