Advantages of JAVA

Java has gained enormous popularity since it

first appeared.
Its rapid ascension and wide acceptance can be
traced to its design and programming features,
particularly in its promise that you can write a
program once, and run it anywhere.
Java was chosen as the programming language
for network computers (NC) and has been
perceived as a universal front end for the
enterprise database.


As stated in Java language white paper by Sun
Microsystems: "Java is a simple, object-
oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust,
secure, architecture neutral, portable,
multithreaded, and dynamic."

1. Java is simple

No language is simple, but Java considered a
much simpler and easy to use object-oriented
programming language when compared to the
popular programming language, C++.
Partially modeled after C++, Java has replaced
the complexity of multiple inheritance in C++
with a simple structure called interface, and
also has eliminated the use of pointers.

The reason that why Java is much simpler than
C++ is because Java uses automatic memory
allocation and garbage collection where else
C++ requires the programmer to allocate
memory and to collect garbage.
Also, the number of language constructs in
Java is small for such a powerful language.
The clean syntax makes Java programs easy to
write and read.

Java is Object-oriented Object-oriented
programming models the real world.
Everything in the world can be modeled as an
object. For example, a circle is an object, a
person is an object, and a window's icon is an
object. Even a mortgage can be perceived as
an object.
Java is object-oriented because programming
in Java is centered on creating objects,
manipulating objects, and making objects work
together.

An object has properties and behaviors.
Properties are described by using data, and
behaviors are described by using methods.
Objects are defined by using classes in Java.
A class is like a template for the objects. An
object is a concrete realization of a class
description. The process of creating an object
class is called instantiation.
Java consists of one or more classes that are
arranged in a treelike hierarchy, so that a child
class is able to inherit properties and behaviors
from its parent class.
An extensive set of pre-defined classes,
grouped in packages that can be used in
programs are found in Java.


Object-oriented programming provides greater
flexibility, modularity and reusability.
For years, object-oriented technology has been
perceived as an elitist, requiring substantial
investments in training and infrastructure.
Java has helped object-oriented technology
enter the mainstream of computing, with its
simple and clean structure that allows the
programmer to write easy to read and write
programs.

2. Java is Distributed

Distributed computing involves several
computers on a network working together.
Java is designed to make distributed
computing easy with the networking capability
that is inherently integrated into it.
Writing network programs in Java is like
sending and receiving data to and from a file.
For example the program of java is compiled
onto one machine can be easily transferred to
machine and executes them on another
machine because facility of Bytes Codes. So
java is specially designed for Internet users
which uses the Remote Computers for
executing their programs on local machine
after transferring the programs from remote
computers or either from the internet.




3. Portability: Program once, Run
anywhere (Platform Independence)

One of the most compelling reasons to move to
Java is its platform independence.
Java runs on most major hardware and
software platforms, including Windows and
NT, the Macintosh, and several varieties of
UNIX.
Java applets are supported by all Java-
compatible browsers.

By moving existing software to Java, you are
able to make it instantly compatible with these
software platforms.
JAVA programs become more portable. Any
hardware and operating system dependencies
are removed.
Java source code is a little more portable than
C-based languages. In C and C++, each
implementation decides the precision and
storage requirements for basic data types
(short, int, float, double, etc.).
This is a major source of porting problems
when moving from one kind of system to
another, since changes in numeric precision
can affect calculations and assumptions about
the size of structs can be violated.
Java defines the size of basic types for all
implementations; an int on one system is the
same size (and can represent the same range of
values) as on every other system.
It does not permit the use of arbitrary pointer
arithmetic, so assumptions about struct
packing and sizes can't lead to non-portable
coding practices.

Although C and C++ are supported on all
platforms that support Java, these languages
are not supported in a platform-independent
manner. C and C++ applications that are
implemented on one operating system platform
are usually severely intertwined with the native
windowing system and OS-specific
networking capabilities.
Moving between OS platforms requires
recompilation, as a minimum, and significant
redesign, in most cases.


4. Java is Interpreted

An interpreter is needed in order to run Java
programs. The programs are compiled into
Java Virtual Machine code called bytecode.
The bytecode is machine independent and is
able to run on any machine that has a Java
interpreter.
Normally, a compiler will translate a high-
level language program to machine code and
the code is able to only run on the native
machine.
If the program is run on other machines, the
program has to be recompiled on the native
machine.
For example, if you compile a C++ program in
Windows, the executable code that is
generated by the compiler can only be run on a
Windows platform. With Java, the program
need only be compiled once, and the bytecode
generated by the Java compiler can run on any
platform.


5. Security

Java is one of the first programming languages
to consider security as part of its design.
The Java language, compiler, interpreter, and
runtime environment were each developed
with security in mind.
The compiler, interpreter, and Java-compatible
browsers all contain several levels of security
measures that are designed to reduce the risk
of security compromise, loss of data and
program integrity, and damage to system users.
Considering the enormous security problems
associated with executing potentially untrusted
code in a secure manner and across multiple
execution environments, Java's security
measures are far ahead of even those
developed to secure military systems.
C and C++ do not have any intrinsic security
capabilities. Can you download an arbitrary
untrusted C or C++ program and execute it in a
secure manner? NO, you cant.


6. Reliability

Security andreliability go hand in hand.
Security measures cannot be implemented with
any degree of assurance without a reliable
framework for program execution.
Java provides multiple levels of reliability
measures, beginning with the Java language
itself. Many of the features of C and C++ that
are detrimental to program reliability, such as
pointers and automatic type conversion, are
avoided in Java.
The Java compiler provides several levels of
additional checks to identify type mismatches
and other inconsistencies.
The Java runtime system duplicates many of
the checks performed by the compiler and
performs additional checks to verify that the
executable bytecodes form a valid Java
program.


7. Multimedia: Images, Sounds and
Animation
The sizzle of JAVA is MULTIMEDIA -
Sounds, Images, Graphics and Video.
In this growing age of multimedia, new
computers are known as "multimedia ready"
with CD-Rom drives, sound cards, 3D
accelerator cards and other new special sound
or graphic technology capabilities.

Multimedia demands incredible computing
power and only recently - in the past 10 years
at least, affordable computers of this kinds are
becoming widespread.
Most programming languages do not have
built-in multimedia capabilities.
JAVA, however through the packages of
classes that are an integral part of the Java
programming world, provides extensive
multimedia facilities that will enable a
programmer to start developing powerful
multimedia applications immediately.

Among the image formats supported by Java is
the Graphics Interchange Format .GIF and
Joint Photography Experts Group .JPEG.
Among the audio formats are AIFF, AU and
WAV.
Music formats currently supported are MIDI
Type 0, MIDI Type 1, and Rich Music Format
(RMF).
Sound formats now allow 8- and 16-bit audio
data, in mono and stereo, with sample rates
from 8 kHz to 48 kHz.
Capability to play MPEG- Layer 2 and 3
formats are also available.
And the list goes on, and continues to grow.



8. The Virtual Machine: Java VM

This VM sits, metaphorically, between the
Java program and the machine it is running on,
offering the program an "abstract computer"
that executes the Java code and guarantees
certain behaviors regardless of the underlying
hardware or software platform.
Java compilers thus turn Java programs not
into assembly language for a particular
machine but into a platform-neutral "byte
code" that the machine-specific VM interprets
on the fly.

The Java VM also enforces security policies,
providing a sandbox that limits what the Java
program can do. A Java applet cannot, for
example, peek into arbitrary files on the
machine it's running on.
The most recent version of Java from Sun,
known as Java Development Kit (JDK) 17,
provides consistent method for an applet to
request restricted system resources.
9. Networking-JavaBeans
A key addition to JDK is support for
JavaBeans, a component model for Java.
JavaBeans make it easy to write reusable
components that can be strung together with a
minimum of additional coding.
Although Microsoft's ActiveX offers similar
advantages, Beans are less focused on a
Windows-centric world and are somewhat
more portable.
Still, ActiveX does have the advantage of
supporting any underlying programming
language, while Beans are designed solely to
encapsulate Java.
JavaBeans offer a promising mechanism for
building general-purpose business components
that you can reuse with minimal modifications.


10. Other Language Features

The Java language provides many language
features that make it preferable to C or C++ for
modern software development.
On the top of this list is Java's intrinsic support
for multi-threading, which is lacking in both C
and C++.
Other features are its exception-handling
capabilities, which were recently introduced
into C++; its strict adherence to class and
object-oriented software development; and its
automated garbage-collection support.
In addition to these features, Java enforces a
common programming style by removing the
capability to slip outside the class- and object-
oriented programming paradigm to develop C-
style function-oriented programs.



11. Java is Robust

Robust means reliable and no programming
language can really assure reliability. Java puts
a lot of emphasis on early checking for
possible errors, as Java compilers are able to
detect many problems that would first show up
during execution time in other languages.
Java eliminates certain types of programming
constructs in other languages that are prone to
errors.
For instance, Java does not support pointers,
which eliminates the possibility of overwriting
memory and corrupting data.
Java has a runtime exception-handling feature
to provide programming support for
robustness, and can catch and respond to an
exceptional situation so that the program can
continue its normal execution and terminate
gracefully when a runtime error occurs.



12. Java is Portable

One advantage of Java is that its programs can
run on any platform without having to be
recompiled.
This is one positive aspect of portability. It
goes on even further to ensure that there are no
platform-specific features on the Java language
specification.
For example, in some languages, such as Ada,
the largest integer varies on different
platforms.
In Java, the size of the integer is the same on
every platform, as is the behavior of
arithmetic.
Having a fixed size for numbers makes Java
programs portable. The Java environment itself
is portable to new hardware and operating
systems, and in fact, the Java compiler itself is
written in Java.



13. Java is Multithreaded

Multithreaded is the capability for a program
to perform several tasks simultaneously within
a program.
For instance, downloading a mp3 file while
playing the file would be considered
multithreading. In Java, multithreaded
programming has been smoothly integrated
into it, while in other languages, operating
system-specific procedures have to be called in
order to enable multithreading.
Multithreading is especially useful in graphical
user interface (GUI) and network
programming.
In GUI programming, many things can occur
at the same time. For example, a user is able to
listen to a mp3 file and surf the Web at the
same time. In network programming, a server
can serve multiple clients at the same time.
Multithreading is a necessity in visual and
network programming.


14. Java is Architecture Neutral

The most remarkable feature of Java is that it
is architecture neutral.
Architecture neutral means that it is platform
independent. A Java program can be run on
any platform with a Java Virtual Machine.
Many major operating system vendors have
adopted the Java Virtual Machine, and soon
Java will be able to run on all machines.
Java's initial success lies in its Web
programming capability.
Java applets can be run from a Web browser,
but Java is in actual, more than just a Web
applet.
Stand-alone Java applications can also be run
directly from operating systems using a Java
interpreter.
Nowadays, software vendors usually develop
multiple versions of the same product so that it
can run on different platforms, such as
Windows, OS/2, Macintosh, and various
UNIX, VMS, Open/VMS, and IBM
mainframes.
Using Java, the developers need to only to
write one version, and this one version will be
able to run on all of the platforms.



15. Java is Dynamic

The Java programming language was designed
to adapt to an evolving environment.
New methods and properties can be added
freely in a class without affecting their clients.
Also, Java is able to load classes as needed at
runtime.
As an example, you have a class called
'Square'. This class has a property to indicate
the color of the square, and a method to
calculate the area of the square.
You can add a new property to the 'Square'
class to indicate the length and width of the
square, and a new method to calculate the
perimeter of the square, and the original client
program that uses the 'Square' class remains
the same.