Java

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Java is one of many high-level programming languages that use abstraction (reducing and factoring details) to create software for computers and many other electronic devices. Compared to low-level programming languages, high-level programming languages use a mixture of natural language (any language used by humans) and typical computer terms to create an easier to understand and simpler form of programming. Figures 1 and 2 show the difference in writing a simple program called “Hello World” in Assembly (a low-level programming language) and in Java.

Like human languages, programming languages have different levels of writing difficulty; some are easy to write, while others require extensive computer knowledge to understand. In programming, high-level languages are easier to understand, learn and write because of the use of natural language. But, as the use of natural language decreases and more words and computer statements are added, the difficulty level of language increases. This process eventually stops when we get to the lowest level of programming languages, machine language or Assembly language. This language strictly deals with solving problems using hardware, thus, requiring extensive knowledge of hardware and well as software to effectively write programs.

History of Java

Compared to other programming languages in use today, Java is fairly young. Development of a new language was taken up in 1991 by a group of Sun Microsystems engineers called the Green Team. The following year, an early version of Java, called “Oak” was introduced. After the internet had matured, in 1995 Oak was renamed to Java and the current language as is known today was officially released to the world. Ever since, there have been man...

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Economic impact of Java

Since Java is so widely used in the world, its impact on the economy is large for a software language. “Sun estimates the total Java Economy to be more than (USD) $100 billion in sales annually driving an additional $110 billion in related IT spending” (Sun). Adding that up, Java’s economic impact compares to about 1.4% of the U.S. $14 trillion economy. Splitting the total value up, “The Java economy includes 2.5 billion smart cards, 800 million PCs shipped with Java, 1.85 billion Java Powered phones (source: Ovum), and over 180 telecom providers who deploy Java technology based content/services” (Sun).

Works Cited
"Java Everywhere ." Oracle. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

"The Java History Timeline." Java. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

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