Java Platform: Implementations
Java Platform: Implementations
Main articles: Java (software platform) and Java virtual machine One characteristic of Java is portability, which means that computer programs written in the Java language must run similarly on any hardware/operating-system platform. This is achieved by compiling the Java language code to an intermediate representation called Java bytecode, instead of directly to platform-specific machine code. Java bytecode instructions are analogous to machine code, but they are intended to be interpreted by a virtual machine (VM) written specifically for the host hardware. Endusers commonly use a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed on their own machine for standalone Java applications, or in a Web browser for Java applets. Standardized libraries provide a generic way to access host-specific features such as graphics, threading, and networking. A major benefit of using bytecode is porting. However, the overhead of interpretation means that interpreted programs almost always run more slowly than programs compiled to native executables would. Just-in-Time (JIT) compilers were introduced from an early stage that compile bytecodes to machine code during runtime.
Implementations
See also: Free Java implementations Oracle Corporation is the current owner of the official implementation of the Java SE platform, following their acquisition of Sun Microsystems on January 27, 2010. This implementation is based on the original implementation of Java by Sun. The Oracle implementation is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Solaris. Because Java lacks any formal standardization recognized by Ecma International, ISO/IEC, ANSI, or other third-party standards organization, the Oracle implementation is the de facto standard. The Oracle implementation is packaged into two different distributions: The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) which contains the parts of the Java SE platform required to run Java programs and is intended for end-users, and the Java Development Kit (JDK), which is intended for software developers and includes development tools such as the Java compiler, Javadoc, Jar, and a debugger. OpenJDK is another notable Java SE implementation that is licensed under the GPL. The implementation started when Sun began releasing the Java source code under the GPL. As of Java SE 7,OpenJDK is the official Java reference implementation. The goal of Java is to make all implementations of Java compatible. Historically, Sun's trademark license for usage of the Java brand insists that all implementations be "compatible". This resulted in a legal dispute with Microsoft after Sun claimed that the Microsoft implementation did not support RMI or JNI and had added platform-specific features of their own. Sun sued in 1997, and in 2001 won a settlement of [23] US$20 million, as well as a court order enforcing the terms of the license from Sun. As a result, Microsoft no longer ships Windows with Java. Platform-independent Java is essential to Java EE, and an even more rigorous validation is required to certify an implementation. This environment enables portable server-side applications.
Performance
Main article: Java performance
Programs written in Java have a reputation for being slower and requiring more memory than those [24][25] written in C++. However, Java programs' execution speed improved significantly with the introduction [26] of Just-in-time compilation in 1997/1998 for Java 1.1, the addition of language features supporting better code analysis (such as inner classes, the StringBuffer class, optional assertions, etc.), and optimizations in the Java virtual machine itself, such as HotSpot becoming the default for Sun's JVM in [27] 2000. As of December 2012, microbenchmarks show Java 7 is approximately 44% slower than C++. Some platforms offer direct hardware support for Java; there are microcontrollers that can run Java in hardware instead of a software Java virtual machine, and ARM based processors can have hardware support for executing Java bytecode through their Jazelle option.
other garbage collectors that can be used to manage the heap. For 90% of applications in Java, the CMS [30] garbage collector is sufficient. Oracle aims to replace CMS with the Garbage-first collector (G1).
Syntax
Main article: Java syntax The syntax of Java is largely derived from C++. Unlike C++, which combines the syntax for structured, generic, and object-oriented programming, Java was built almost exclusively as an object-oriented language. All code is written inside a class, and everything is an object, with the exception of the primitive data types (e.g. integers, floating-point numbers, boolean values, and characters), which are not classes for performance reasons. Unlike C++, Java does not support operator overloading or multiple inheritance for classes. This simplifies the language and aids in preventing potential errors and anti-pattern design. Java uses similar commenting methods to C++. There are three different styles of comments: a single line style marked with two slashes (//), a multiple line style opened with /* and closed with */, and the Javadoc commenting style opened with /** and closed with */. The Javadoc style of commenting allows the user to run the Javadoc executable to compile documentation for the program. Example: // This is an example of a single line comment using two slashes /* This is an example of a multiple line comment using the slash and asterisk. This type of comment can be used to hold a lot of information or deactivate code, but it is very important to remember to close the comment. */ /** * This is an example of a Javadoc comment; Javadoc can compile documentation * from this text. */ /** Finally, an example of a method written in Java, wrapped in a class. */ package fibsandlies; import java.util.HashMap; public class FibCalculator extends Fibonacci implements Calculator { private static HashMap<Integer, Integer> memoized = new HashMap<Integer, Integer>(); /** * * * */ Given a non-negative number FIBINDEX, returns, the Nth Fibonacci number, where N equals FIBINDEX. @param fibIndex The index of the Fibonacci number @return The Fibonacci number itself
@Override public static int fibonacci(int fibIndex) { if (memoized.contains(fibIndex)) { return memoized.get(fibIndex); } else { int answer = fibonacci(fibIndex - 1) + fibonacci(fibIndex - 2); memoized.put(fibIndex, answer); return answer; } } }
Examples
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Hello world
The traditional Hello world program can be written in Java as:
[31]
class HelloWorldApp { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string. } } To compare this to other programming languages see the list of hello world program examples. Source files must be named after the public class they contain, appending the suffix .java, for example, HelloWorldApp.java. It must first be compiled into bytecode, using a Java compiler, producing a file named HelloWorldApp.class. Only then can it be executed, or 'launched'. The Java source file may only contain one public class, but it can contain multiple classes with other than public access and any number of public inner classes. A class that is not declared public may be stored in any .java file. The compiler will generate a class file for each class defined in the source file. The name of the class file is the name of the class, with .class appended. For class file generation, anonymous classes are treated as if their name were the concatenation of the name of their enclosing class, a $, and an integer. The keyword public denotes that a method can be called from code in other classes, or that a class may be used by classes outside the class hierarchy. The class hierarchy is related to the name of the directory in which the .java file is located.
The keyword static in front of a method indicates a static method, which is associated only with the class and not with any specific instance of that class. Only static methods can be invoked without a reference to an object. Static methods cannot access any class members that are not also static. The keyword void indicates that the main method does not return any value to the caller. If a Java program is to exit with an error code, it must call System.exit() explicitly. The method name "main" is not a keyword in the Java language. It is simply the name of the method the Java launcher calls to pass control to the program. Java classes that run in managed environments such as applets and Enterprise JavaBean do not use or need a main() method. A Java program may contain multiple classes that have main methods, which means that the VM needs to be explicitly told which class to launch from. The main method must accept an array of String objects. By convention, it is referenced as args although any other legal identifier name can be used. Since Java 5, the main method can also use variable arguments, in the form of public static void main(String... args), allowing the main method to be invoked with an arbitrary number of String arguments. The effect of this alternate declaration is semantically identical (the args parameter is still an array of String objects), but it allows an alternative syntax for creating and passing the array. The Java launcher launches Java by loading a given class (specified on the command line or as an attribute in a JAR) and starting its public static void main(String[]) method. Stand-alone programs must declare this method explicitly. The String[] args parameter is an array of String objects containing any arguments passed to the class. The parameters to mainare often passed by means of a command line. Printing is part of a Java standard library: The System class defines a public static field called out. The out object is an instance of the PrintStream class and provides many methods for printing data to standard out, including println(String) which also appends a new line to the passed string. The string "Hello, world!" is automatically converted to a String object by the compiler.
private int input; // a whole number("int" means integer) /** * This is the constructor method. It gets called when an object of the OddEven type * is being created. */ public OddEven() { /* * In most Java programs constructors can initialize objects with default values, or create * other objects that this object might use to perform its functions. In some Java programs, the * constructor may simply be an empty function if nothing needs to be initialized prior to the * functioning of the object. In this program's case, an empty constructor would suffice. * A constructor must exist; however, if the user doesn't put one in then the compiler * will create an empty one. */ } /** * This is the main method. It gets called when this class is run through a Java interpreter. * @param args command line arguments (unused) */ public static void main(final String[] args) { /* * This line of code creates a new instance of this class called "number" (also known as an * Object) and initializes it by calling the constructor. The next line of code calls * the "showDialog()" method, which brings up a prompt to ask you for a number */ OddEven number = new OddEven(); number.showDialog(); } public void showDialog() { /* * "try" makes sure nothing goes wrong. If something does, * the interpreter skips to "catch" to see what it should do.
*/ try { /* * The code below brings up a JOptionPane, which is a dialog box * The String returned by the "showInputDialog()" method is converted into * an integer, making the program treat it as a number instead of a word. * After that, this method calls a second method, calculate() that will * display either "Even" or "Odd." */ this.input = Integer.parseInt(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter a number.")); this.calculate(); } catch (final NumberFormatException e) { /* * Getting in the catch block means that there was a problem with the format of * the number. Probably some letters were typed in instead of a number. */ System.err.println("ERROR: Invalid input. Please type in a numerical value."); } } /** * When this gets called, it sends a message to the interpreter. * The interpreter usually shows it on the command prompt (For Windows users) * or the terminal (For *nix users).(Assuming it's open) */ private void calculate() { if ((this.input % 2) == 0) { JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Even"); } else { JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Odd"); } } } The import statement imports the JOptionPane class from the javax.swing package.
The OddEven class declares a single private field of type int named input. Every instance of the OddEven class has its own copy of the input field. The private declaration means that no other class can access (read or write) the input field. OddEven() is a public constructor. Constructors have the same name as the enclosing class they are declared in, and unlike a method, have no return type. A constructor is used to initialize an object that is a newly created instance of the class. The calculate() method is declared without the static keyword. This means that the method is invoked using a specific instance of the OddEven class. (The reference used to invoke the method is passed as an undeclared parameter of type OddEven named this.) The method tests the expression input % 2 == 0 using the if keyword to see if the remainder of dividing the input field belonging to the instance of the class by two is zero. If this expression is true, then it prints Even; if this expression is false it prints Odd. (The input field can be equivalently accessed as this.input, which explicitly uses the undeclared this parameter.) OddEven number = new OddEven(); declares a local object reference variable in the main method named number. This variable can hold a reference to an object of type OddEven. The declaration initializes number by first creating an instance of the OddEven class, using the new keyword and the OddEven() constructor, and then assigning this instance to the variable. The statement number.showDialog(); calls the calculate method. The instance of OddEven object referenced by the number local variable is used to invoke the method and passed as the undeclared this parameter to the calculate method. input = Integer.parseInt(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please Enter A Number")); is a statement that converts the type of String to the primitive data type int by using a utility function in the primitive wrapper class Integer.
Special classes
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Applet
Main article: Java applet Java applets are programs that are embedded in other applications, typically in a Web page displayed in a Web browser. // Hello.java import javax.swing.JApplet; import java.awt.Graphics; public class Hello extends JApplet { public void paintComponent(final Graphics g) { g.drawString("Hello, world!", 65, 95); } }
The import statements direct the Java compiler to include the javax.swing.JApplet and java.awt.Graphics classes in the compilation. The import statement allows these classes to be referenced in the source code using the simple class name (i.e. JApplet) instead of the fully qualified class name (i.e. javax.swing.JApplet). The Hello class extends (subclasses) the JApplet (Java Applet) class; the JApplet class provides the framework for the host application to display and control the lifecycle of the applet. The JApplet class is a JComponent (Java Graphical Component) which provides the applet with the capability to display a graphical user interface (GUI) and respond to user events. The Hello class overrides the paintComponent(Graphics) method (additionally indicated with the annotation, supported as of JDK 1.5, Override) inherited from the Containersuperclass to provide the code to display the applet. The paintComponent() method is passed a Graphics object that contains the graphic context used to display the applet. ThepaintComponent() method calls the graphic context drawString(String, int, int) method to display the "Hello, world!" string at a pixel offset of (65, 95) from the upper-left corner in the applet's display. <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <!-- Hello.html --> <html> <head> <title>Hello World Applet</title> </head> <body> <applet code="Hello.class" width="200" height="200"> </applet> </body> </html> An applet is placed in an HTML document using the <applet> HTML element. The applet tag has three attributes set: code="Hello" specifies the name of the JApplet class andwidth="200" height="200" sets the pixel width and height of the applet. Applets may also be embedded in HTML [32] using either the object or embed element, although support for these elements by Web browsers is [33] inconsistent. However, the applet tag is deprecated, so the object tag is preferred where supported. The host application, typically a Web browser, instantiates the Hello applet and creates an AppletContext for the applet. Once the applet has initialized itself, it is added to the AWT display hierarchy. The paintComponent() method is called by the AWT event dispatching thread whenever the display needs the applet to draw itself.
Servlet
Main article: Java Servlet Java Servlet technology provides Web developers with a simple, consistent mechanism for extending the functionality of a Web server and for accessing existing business systems. Servlets areserver-side Java
EE components that generate responses (typically HTML pages) to requests (typically HTTP requests) from clients. A servlet can almost be thought of as an applet that runs on the server side without a face. // Hello.java import java.io.*; import javax.servlet.*; public class Hello extends GenericServlet { public void service(final ServletRequest request, final ServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); final PrintWriter pw = response.getWriter(); try { pw.println("Hello, world!"); } finally { pw.close(); } } } The import statements direct the Java compiler to include all of the public classes and interfaces from the java.io and javax.servlet packages in the compilation. The Hello class extends the GenericServlet class; the GenericServlet class provides the interface for the server to forward requests to the servlet and control the servlet's lifecycle. The Hello class overrides the service(ServletRequest, ServletResponse) method defined by the Servlet interface to provide the code for the service request handler. Theservice() method is passed: a ServletRequest object that contains the request from the client and a ServletResponse object used to create the response returned to the client. The service() method declares that it throws the exceptions ServletException and IOException if a problem prevents it from responding to the request. The setContentType(String) method in the response object is called to set the MIME content type of the returned data to "text/html". The getWriter() method in the response returns a PrintWriter object that is used to write the data that is sent to the client. The println(String) method is called to write the "Hello, world!" string to the response and then the close() method is called to close the print writer, which causes the data that has been written to the stream to be returned to the client.
JavaServer Pages
Main article: JavaServer Pages JavaServer Pages (JSP) are server-side Java EE components that generate responses, typically HTML pages, to HTTP requests from clients. JSPs embed Java code in an HTML page by using the special delimiters <% and %>. A JSP is compiled to a Java servlet, a Java application in its own right, the first time it is accessed. After that, the generated servlet creates the response.
Swing application
Main article: Swing (Java) Swing is a graphical user interface library for the Java SE platform. It is possible to specify a different look and feel through the pluggable look and feel system of Swing. Clones of Windows, GTK+and Motif are supplied by Sun. Apple also provides an Aqua look and feel for Mac OS X. Where prior implementations of these looks and feels may have been considered lacking, Swing in Java SE 6 addresses this problem by using more native GUI widget drawing routines of the underlying platforms. This example Swing application creates a single window with "Hello, world!" inside: // Hello.java (Java SE 5) import javax.swing.*; public class Hello extends JFrame { public Hello() { super("hello"); super.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); super.add(new JLabel("Hello, world!")); super.pack(); super.setVisible(true); } public static void main(final String[] args) { new Hello(); } } The first import includes all of the public classes and interfaces from the javax.swing package. The Hello class extends the JFrame class; the JFrame class implements a window with a title bar and a close control. The Hello() constructor initializes the frame by first calling the superclass constructor, passing the parameter "hello", which is used as the window's title. It then calls thesetDefaultCloseOperation(int) method inherited from JFrame to set the default operation when the close control on the title bar is selected toWindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE this causes the JFrame to be disposed of when the frame is closed (as opposed to merely hidden), which allows the Java virtual machine to exit and the program to terminate. Next, a JLabel is created for the string "Hello, world!" and the add(Component) method inherited from the Container superclass is called to add the label to the frame. The pack() method inherited from the Window superclass is called to size the window and lay out its contents. The main() method is called by the Java virtual machine when the program starts. It instantiates a new Hello frame and causes it to be displayed by calling the setVisible(boolean)method inherited from the Component superclass with the boolean parameter true. Once the frame is displayed, exiting the main method does not cause the program to terminate because the AWT event dispatching thread remains active until all of the Swing top-level windows have been disposed.
Generics
Main article: Generics in Java In 2004, generics were added to the Java language, as part of J2SE 5.0. Prior to the introduction of generics, each variable declaration had to be of a specific type. For container classes, for example, this is a problem because there is no easy way to create a container that accepts only specific types of objects. Either the container operates on all subtypes of a class or interface, usually Object, or a different container class has to be created for each contained class. Generics allow compile-time type checking without having to create a large number of container classes, each containing almost identical code. In addition to enabling more efficient code, certain runtime exceptions are converted to compile-time exceptions, a characteristic known as type safety.
Criticism
Main article: Criticism of Java Criticisms directed at Java include the implementation of generics, speed, the handling of [37] [38] unsigned numbers, the implementation of floating-point arithmetic, and a history of security [39] vulnerabilities in the primary Java VM implementation HotSpot.
[34] [35][36]
Google
Google and Android, Inc. have chosen to use Java as a key pillar in the creation of the Android operating system, an open-source smartphone operating system. Besides the fact that the operating system, built on the Linux kernel, was written largely in C, the Android SDK uses Java to design applications for the Android platform.
On May 7, 2012, a San Francisco jury found that if APIs could be copyrighted, then Google had infringed Oracle's copyrights by the use of Java in Android devices. Oracle's stance in this case has raised questions about the legal status of the language. However, the Hon. William Haskell Alsup ruled on May [40] 31, 2012, that APIs cannot be copyrighted.
Gaikai
Gaikai uses the Java browser plugin to stream game demos to any PC. Gaikai (Japanese for "open ocean") is a cloud-based gaming service that allows users to play high-end PC and console games via the cloud and instantly demo games and applications from a webpage on any computer or internetconnected device.
Class libraries
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2013) The Java Class Library are the compiled bytecodes of source code developed by the JRE implementor to support application development in Java. Examples of these libraries are: The core libraries, which include: Collection libraries that implement data structures such as lists, dictionaries, trees, sets, queues and double-ended queue, or stacks XML Processing (Parsing, Transforming, Validating) libraries Security Internationalization and localization libraries
The integration libraries, which allow the application writer to communicate with external systems. These libraries include: The Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) API for database access Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) for lookup and discovery RMI and CORBA for distributed application development JMX for managing and monitoring applications
User interface libraries, which include: The (heavyweight, or native) Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), which provides GUI components, the means for laying out those components and the means for handling events from those components The (lightweight) Swing libraries, which are built on AWT but provide (non-native) implementations of the AWT widgetry APIs for audio capture, processing, and playback
A platform dependent implementation of the Java virtual machine that is the means by which the byte codes of the Java libraries and third party applications are executed Plugins, which enable applets to be run in Web browsers Java Web Start, which allows Java applications to be efficiently distributed to end-users across the Internet Licensing and documentation.
Documentation
Main article: Javadoc Javadoc is a comprehensive documentation system, created by Sun Microsystems, used by many Java developers. It provides developers with an organized system for documenting their code.Javadoc comments have an extra asterisk at the beginning, i.e. the tags are /** and */, whereas the normal multi-line comments in Java are set off with the tags /* and */.
Editions
See also: Free Java implementations#Class library
Java Editions
Java Card
JavaFX
PersonalJava (discontinued)
Sun has defined and supports four editions of Java targeting different application environments and segmented many of its APIs so that they belong to one of the platforms. The platforms are:
Java Card for smartcards. Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) targeting environments with limited resources. Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) targeting workstation environments. Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) targeting large distributed enterprise or Internet environments.
The classes in the Java APIs are organized into separate groups called packages. Each package contains a set of related interfaces, classes andexceptions. Refer to the separate platforms for a description of the packages available. The set of APIs is controlled by Sun Microsystems in cooperation with others through the Java Community Process program. Companies or individuals participating in this process can influence the design and development of the APIs. This process has been a subject of controversy. Sun also provided an edition called PersonalJava that has been superseded by later, standards-based Java ME configuration-profile pairings.
See also
Java portal Computer programming portal
Dalvik JavaOne Javapedia List of Java virtual machines List of Java APIs List of JVM languages
Notes
1. 2. ^
a b
^ Java 5.0 added several new language features (theenhanced for loop, autoboxing, varargs and annotations), after they were introduced in the similar (and competing) C#language [1] [2]
3.
^ Gosling, James; and McGilton, Henry (May 1996). "The Java Language Environment".
4. 5. 6.
^ Gosling, James; Joy, Bill; Steele, Guy; and Bracha, Gilad."The Java Language Specification, 2nd Edition". ^ "The A-Z of Programming Languages: Modula-3". Computerworld.com.au. Retrieved 2010-06-09. ^ Niklaus Wirth stated on a number of public occasions, e.g. in a lecture at the Polytechnic Museum, Moscow in September, 2005 (several independent first-hand accounts in Russian exist, e.g. one with an audio recording: Filippova, Elena (September 22, 2005). "Niklaus Wirth's lecture at the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow".), that the Sun Java design team licenced the Oberon compiler sources a number of years prior to the release of Java and examined it: a (relative) compactness, type safety, garbage collection, no multiple inheritance for classes -- all these key overall design features are shared by Java and Oberon.
7.
^ Patrick Naughton cites Objective-C as a strong influence on the design of the Java programming language, stating that notable direct derivatives include Java interfaces (derived from ObjectiveC's protocol) and primitive wrapper classes. [3]
8.
^ TechMetrix Research (1999). "History of Java". Java Application Servers Report. "The project went ahead under the name "green" and the language was based on an old model of UCSD Pascal, which makes it possible to generate interpretive code"
9.
^ "A Conversation with James Gosling ACM Queue". Queue.acm.org. 2004-08-31. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
10. ^ "Programming Language Popularity". 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-16. 11. ^ "TIOBE Programming Community Index". 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 12. ^ Byous, Jon (ca. 1998). "Java technology: The early years". Sun Developer Network. Sun Microsystems. Archived from the original on April 20, 2005. Retrieved 2005-04-22. 13. ^ Object-oriented programming "The History of Java Technology". Sun Developer Network. ca. 1995. Retrieved 2010-04-30.