A Cup of Java
Did you ever wonder, when you see one of those messages informing you that "there is a Java update available," what exactly "Java" is?
It's certainly ubiquitous - as its owners tell us, "Java runs on more than 850 million personal computers worldwide, and on billions of devices worldwide, including mobile and TV devices." You may even have Java running in your car.
Again, according to Oracle, the people who wrote the language, "Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems (later merged into Oracle) in 1995. It is the underlying technology that powers state-of-the-art programs including utilities, games, and business applications."
When you download "Java," you're really downloading something called the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). What that is is the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Java platform core classes, and supporting Java platform libraries. Runtime simply refers to, you guessed it, the "world" that allows a programming language to, literally, run. So when you encounter an application on the web - say, you go to do some online bill paying - that's written in Java, you'll need this "Java Runtime Environment" installed on your computer in order for that application to work.
One of the features of Java that makes it so popular is that it's "platform independent." That means that it doesn't matter if you're running a Mac, a PC, or any other operating system (such as Linux, for example). Java should run just fine on any machine. This is a benefit to website owners, as it means they don't have to program multiple times in order for a game to run on different computers, or even different devices, such as mobile phones, kiosks, or, as I said, your car. Programmers call this WORA (write once, run anywhere). And they like it.
When a Java script is running, you'll frequently see a little notice down in the lower left corner of your screen--and sometimes you'll get a notice that a "script" has stopped running on a particular page, indicating that there is an error in the script, perhaps you need to update your version of Java, or some other malfunction has occurred.
Most often, Java is associated with games or business applications you run via the web. So, you play a game online, or you want to calculate a mortgage payment - odds are, you'll be using Java to do it.
It's certainly ubiquitous - as its owners tell us, "Java runs on more than 850 million personal computers worldwide, and on billions of devices worldwide, including mobile and TV devices." You may even have Java running in your car.
Again, according to Oracle, the people who wrote the language, "Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems (later merged into Oracle) in 1995. It is the underlying technology that powers state-of-the-art programs including utilities, games, and business applications."
When you download "Java," you're really downloading something called the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). What that is is the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Java platform core classes, and supporting Java platform libraries. Runtime simply refers to, you guessed it, the "world" that allows a programming language to, literally, run. So when you encounter an application on the web - say, you go to do some online bill paying - that's written in Java, you'll need this "Java Runtime Environment" installed on your computer in order for that application to work.
One of the features of Java that makes it so popular is that it's "platform independent." That means that it doesn't matter if you're running a Mac, a PC, or any other operating system (such as Linux, for example). Java should run just fine on any machine. This is a benefit to website owners, as it means they don't have to program multiple times in order for a game to run on different computers, or even different devices, such as mobile phones, kiosks, or, as I said, your car. Programmers call this WORA (write once, run anywhere). And they like it.
When a Java script is running, you'll frequently see a little notice down in the lower left corner of your screen--and sometimes you'll get a notice that a "script" has stopped running on a particular page, indicating that there is an error in the script, perhaps you need to update your version of Java, or some other malfunction has occurred.
Most often, Java is associated with games or business applications you run via the web. So, you play a game online, or you want to calculate a mortgage payment - odds are, you'll be using Java to do it.
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