Java Overview

Java is three things in one:

  • Java is a programming language.

    It is similar, in various ways, to many other programming languages, with heavy influence from C (basic syntax and operators) and Smalltalk (object-oriented features).

  • Java is an environment.

    In the following sections, I will talk about the Java virtual machine (JVM). A key part of Java is a run-time environment that supports Java programs. There are many features, such as garbage collection, multithreading, and resource management, provided by the Java environment. It is this runtime environment, including the Java interpreter, class loader, bytecode verifier, and so forth, that shields your application or Applet code from the operating system. The environment schedules ...

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