Java

Java is an object-oriented programming language developed by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s. The language, which was designed to be platform independent, is a derivative of C++ with a simpler syntax, a more robust runtime environment and simplified memory management.

Java is not related to JavaScript, though they have similar names and share a C-like syntax.

Philosophy

There were five primary goals in the creation of the Java language:

1. It should use the object-oriented programming methodology.
2. It should allow the same program to be executed on multiple operating systems.
3. It should contain built-in support for using computer networks.
4. It should be designed to execute code from remote sources securely.
5. It should be easy to use and borrow the good parts of older object-oriented languages like C++.

Especially for the latter part, however, extensions are sometimes required, like CORBA or OSGi.