History of Java

Source: Dev.to

Origins

Java was started in 1991 by James Gosling as part of a research initiative called the Green Project. The main objective of this project was to create a programming language that could run on electronic devices such as televisions and set‑top boxes. The team aimed to develop a language that was simple, reliable, secure, and independent of hardware platforms.

Oak

During this early phase, the language was named Oak, inspired by an oak tree located outside James Gosling’s office. Oak emphasized portability and safety, two core principles that later became the foundation of Java.

Renaming to Java

In 1995, Oak was renamed Java due to trademark issues and was officially released to the public. This release marked a major milestone because Java introduced the groundbreaking concept of platform independence through the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

Platform Independence

Instead of compiling programs into machine‑specific code, Java source code was compiled into bytecode, which could run on any system equipped with a JVM. This “write once, run anywhere” feature made Java especially attractive during the rapid expansion of the internet, leading to widespread use of Java applets for adding interactive and dynamic content to web pages.