Introduction to Java

An Introduction to Java Programming.

Java is an object-oriented programming language with a built-in application programming interface (API) that can handle graphics and user interfaces and that can be used to create applications. Java is a high-level, third generation programming language, like C, FORTRAN, Perl, and many others. You can use Java to write computer applications that play games, store data or do any of the thousands of other things computer software can do. Compared to other programming languages, Java is most similar to C and C++. However, it is not mandatory to learn C or C++ to learn Java. 

One major difference is that Java does not have pointers. However, the biggest difference is that you must write object oriented code in Java. Procedural pieces of code can only be embedded in objects. In the following we assume that the reader has some familiarity with a programming language. In particular, some familiarity with the syntax of C/C++ is useful.

To actually execute Java programs, they developed Java interpreters that ran on various machines and under various operating systems. Thus, Java became a language that would execute on a number of systems and now has implementations for virtually all common computers and operating systems.The most string feature of Java is that it is platform-neutral language. Java is the first programming language that is not tied to any particular hardware or Operating System. Programs developed in Java can be executed anywhere on any system. 

Java is an Object Oriented Language. It enables us not only to organize our program code into logical units called objects but also to take advantage of encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.