Characteristics of Java

Java Characteristics and Features

Java is simple

Java was designed to be easy for the professional programmer to learn and use effectively.

Java is object-oriented

Java is true Object Oriented Language. Almost everything in Java is an object. All program code and data reside within objects and classes. 

Java is distributed

Java is designed as a distributed language for creating applications on networks. It has the ability to share both data and programs. Java applications can open and access remote objects on Internet easily as they can do in a local system. 

Java is Compiled and interpreted

Java combines both Compiled and Interpreted approaches thus making Java two stage-system. First, Java Compiler translates source code into what is known as bytecode instructions. Bytecodes are not machine instructions and therefore, in the second stage, Java Interpreter generates machine code that can be directly executed by the Machine. 

Java is robust

Java is robust language. It provides many safeguards to ensure reliable code. It has strict compile time and run time checking for data types. 

Java is secure

Security becomes an important issue for a language that is used for programming in Internet. Java Systems not only verify all memory access but also ensure that no viruses are communicated with an applet. 

Java is architecture-neutral

Operating system upgrades, processor upgrades, and changes in core system resources can all combine to make a program malfunction. The Java designers made several hard decisions in the Java language and the Java Virtual Machine in an attempt to alter this situation. Their goal was “write once; run anywhere, any time, forever.” To a great extent, this goal was accomplished.

Java is portable

Java ensures portability in two ways. First, Java Compiler generates bytecode instructions that can  e implemented on any machine. Secondly, the size of the prmitive data types are machine independent. 

Java is multithreaded

We can listen to an audio clip while scrolling a page and at the same time download an applet from a distant computer. This feature greatly improves the interactive performance of graphical applications. 

Java is dynamic

Java is capable for dynamically linking in new class libraries, methods, and objects.