The Evolution of Java

Only a few languages have fundamentally reshaped the very essence of programming. In this elite group, one stands out because its impact was both rapid and widespread. This language is, of course, Java. It is not an overstatement to say that the original release of Java 1.0 in 1995 by Sun Microsystems caused a revolution in programming. This revolution radically transformed the Web into a highly interactive environment. In the process, Java set a new standard in computer language design.

Over the years, Java continued to grow, evolve, and otherwise redefine itself. Unlike many other languages, which are slow to incorporate new features, Java has continually been at the forefront of computer language design. One reason for this is the culture of innovation and change that came to surround Java. As a result, Java has gone through several upgrades—some relatively small, others more significant.

The first major update to Java was version 1.1. The features added by Java 1.1 were more substantial than the small increase in the version number would have you think. For example, Java 1.1 added many new library elements, redefined the way events are handled, and

reconfigured many features of the original 1.0 library.

The next major release of Java was Java 2, where the 2 indicates “second generation.” The creation of Java 2 was a watershed event, marking the beginning of Java’s “modern age.”

The first release of Java 2 carried the version number 1.2. It may seem odd that the first release of Java 2 used the 1.2 version number. The number originally referred to the internal version number of the Java libraries, but then was generalized to refer to the entire release, itself. With Java 2, Sun repackaged the Java product as J2SE (Java 2 Platform Standard Edition), and the version numbers began to be applied to that product. The next upgrade of Java was J2SE 1.3. This version of Java was the first major upgrade to the original Java 2 release. For the most part it added to existing functionality and “tightened up” the development environment. The release of J2SE 1.4 further enhanced Java.

This release contained several important new features, including chained exceptions,  channelbased I/O, and the assert keyword. The latest release of Java is J2SE 5. As important as each of the preceding upgrades to Java have been, none compares in scale, size, and scope to that of J2SE 5. It has fundamentally reshaped the Java world!