Introduction
Despite the emergence of the latest technologies and programming languages, Java’s popularity has never declined. Since its release in 1995, Java has remained a consistently strong language used in many applications and industries. According to the 2024 TIOBE Index, Java is ranked fourth with a 7.87% rating. As per the popularity of programming languages, Java holds 15.73% of the market share. More than 80% of Fortune 500 companies hire Java developers. Today in this article, we will explore its features and benefits.
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What is Java?
Java is a purely object-oriented programming language developed by the Sun Microsystem. It is a general-purpose, high-level programming language, class-based, fast, and secure. Moreover, Java has three editions, which are Java Standard Editions, Java Micro Edition, and Java Enterprise Edition.
What are the features of Java?
The following are some of the benefits of Java; let’s have a closer look at them one by one:
Platform Independent: Java lets programmers write code in any configuration and run it on a different operating system because its code is not directly converted into machine code. Instead, Java code is converted into bytecode, and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) further executes its code. Although different operating systems use their own JVMs, once the bytecode is executed, all operating systems provide the same result. Therefore, Java is a platform-independent language.
Robust Memory Management: The Java memory management technique is solid. It uses an exception-handling system, a type-checking system, and an automatic garbage collector. Its garbage collector takes care of memory waste by efficiently using heap memory and throwing out the unreferenced objects in the program.
Highly Secure: Java’s high security is one of its most loved features by many programmers. It provides several layers of security, so you can create applications or software that is free from viruses. Additionally, it has no concept of pointer; thus, exploiting security weaknesses like stack corruption or buffer overflow is impossible.
Multithreaded Programming: Java is multithreaded programming, meaning it lets developers operate on multiple parts of a program with simultaneous execution. This ensures optimal use of the CPU.
Object-Oriented Programming Language: Java strictly follows the principle of object-oriented programming (OOP) and its features such as polymorphism, encapsulation, inheritance, and abstraction. This includes concepts of objects and classes that give developers the liberty to design a wide range of software. This feature promotes code reusability and flexibility in its code.
Simple and Portable: Java doesn’t follow the concepts of pointers, multiple inheritance, operator overloading, or explicit memory allocation. This makes the language straightforward and reduces the learning curve. Also, its syntax is like C#, so if you’re familiar with C#, writing code in Java won’t make it difficult. In addition, Java bytecode lets the Java program run on different platforms.
High Performance: Java bytecode is similar to native code, which boosts its performance. Though it runs faster than conventionally interpreted programming languages, it falls short in speed in comparison to compiled languages like C and C++. However, the Just In Time (JIT) compiler improves performance by caching interpretations of bytecode.
Distributed Environment: Java supports Remote Method Invocation (RMI) and Application Programming Interface (API) for socket programming, making the development of distributed applications easier. It can seamlessly handle TCP/IP and UDP protocols.
What are the benefits of Java?
Java’s versatility and its widespread usage in advanced fields made Java a popular language, the following are its benefits:
- Easy to Learn: Java has a sentence structure like English, which makes it easy to learn and master in a short time. You just need to be familiar with the steps of the JDK installation and setting the path, as well as understand how classpath works in Java. Once you’re aware of the steps, working with Java is simple. Moreover, there are numerous free online resources from which you can learn Java.
- Plenty of Tools: Java provides Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) that include Eclipse, NetBeans, IntelliJ IDEA, and many more. These tools provide a faster and easier way to write programs in Java. Also, it provides strong debugging capabilities. Apart from this, Java offers other tools like Maven and ANT for building Java applications, decompilers, JConsole, API to I/O, organizing, utilities, XML parsing, database association, Visual VM for observing heap utilization, and Jenkins for continuous integration and conveyance.
- Good Starting Point: For beginners, Java is the best language to get you started with coding and eventually land you in a good space in software development. Since Java is a purely OOP language, you will gain a good knowledge of OOPs as well as interfaces and threads. This will be your valuable skillset to add and showcase in the long run. Once you gain confidence in Java, you can easily learn C#, C++, and Python.
- Java is Everywhere: Java is highly versatile and widely used for various domains like web, IoT, mobile development, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI). Moreover, it has many good features, such as dynamic coding, different security highlights, stage-free qualities, and arrangement-driven planning, which makes it adaptable.
- Better Scope for Career: Like C and C++, Java is also one of the mainstream languages in the programming world. More than 8 million developers worldwide use Java, and Java developers are sought after. Java alone holds the most lucrative job market in the IT sector and other industries. So, learning Java might land you in a company where you earn a high salary.
- Widespread Adoption: Java is not limited to building standalone desktop applications. It is widely used in other domains nowadays, like building video games and web-based applications using Spring Boot and the base language for Android development. Besides, it is also used by companies like Netflix, Google, NASA, Airbnb, and Spotify.
In Conclusion
So, these were Java features and benefits. By exploring these features and benefits, we can say that Java is extremely beneficial today and truly holds the title of the most demanding language used in the industry. If you’re a seasoned developer looking to work as a Java developer, then sign up for Olibr.
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FAQs
Yes, Java’s stability and flexibility make it one of the most popular languages for big data, IoT, AI, and mobile development.
Java is comparatively easy to learn as compared to other programming languages. If you are familiar with the concept of OOPs, then learning Java won’t take much time. But if you don’t know the OOPs, then learning Java will take longer than you can imagine. Therefore, it is best to learn C++ and C# first before learning Java.
Out of so many numerous programming languages, Java, despite being an old language, continues to be one of the most popular and widely used programming languages, all thanks to its excellent features. Prominent companies that use Java are Uber, Netflix, Google, Instagram, Amazon, Airbnb, Pinterest, Spotify, LinkedIn, and Flipkart.
Yes, Java outperforms Python in terms of speed. Since Java is a statically typed and compiled language, it takes less time to execute code. Python is a dynamically typed and interpreted language that makes the language slow during runtime
YouTube, for sure, has many Java tutorials and videos for free. Apart from this, there are sites like Udemy, Coursera, and edX that charge less for the courses that allow you to easily pay and learn Java.
