Java Buzz Forum - Oracle and the Community Celebrate 20 Years of Java

Oracle and the Community Celebrate 20 Years of Java

Look Ahead to How Java Will Continue to Transform the Way We Work and Live Oracle, users and the development community worldwide are celebrating 20 years of Java this year. Today, Java serves as the critical backbone of software that touches both our work and personal lives. From innovations in enterprise big data, cloud, social, mobile and the Internet of Things, to connected cars, smartphones and video games, Java continues to help developers push the boundaries in technology innovation.

Evolution of the World’s #1 Programming Language

Introduced in 1995, Java is the programming language of choice for 9 million developers and today powers 7 billion devices. Improving road and air safety, collecting information from the world’s oceans for science applications, increasing grain crop quality and quantifying to help feed the hungry, simulating the human brain and musculoskeletal system, and gaming are some of the intriguing projects worldwide that use the Java technology.

Enterprise developers can choose from an ecosystem of 30 Java EE 6 and Java EE 7 compatible implementations from 12 vendors. Additionally, more than 125 million Java-based media devices have been deployed and over 10 billion Java Cards have been shipped since Java’s introduction.

Under the stewardship of Oracle, two major platform releases including Java 7 and Java 8 have been delivered, with Java 9 slated for 2016. The Java Community Process (JCP) is more open and transparent than ever before, and serves as an integral element of community participation in the ongoing evolution of the technology. The OpenJDK Community, the place to collaborate on an open-source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition, is continuously attracting new contributors to its already broad base of participation.
In March 2014, Oracle announced availability of Java SE 8 after receiving final approval in the Java Community process. This release, which included the largest upgrade to the Java programming model since the platform was introduced in 1995, was developed collaboratively in the OpenJDK Community. Soon after, in April 2014, the Java Platform, Micro Edition 8 (Java ME 8) and the related releases of Oracle's Java Embedded products were also made available after final approval in the Java Community Process. With a consistent Java 8 platform across embedded devices, desktops, data centers and the cloud, customers can deploy applications faster; process and analyze in-flight data; and act on events as quickly as they occur.

Ushering in the Next Era of Java

Oracle and the Java community are now focused on delivering new innovations in Java 9. The key planned feature of this release is Project Jigsaw, which aims to modularize the platform in order to make it scalable to a wider range of devices, make it easier for developers to construct and maintain libraries and large applications, and improve security, maintainability, and performance. Other features slated for Java 9 include the Java Shell, an interactive tool for evaluating snippets of Java code; a new HTTP client API to support HTTP/2 and Web Sockets; a port to the ARM AArch64 architecture on Linux; and a variety of updates to existing APIs along with some significant performance improvements.
To commemorate 20 years of Java, Oracle Certification is offering 20 percent discount on all Java certification exams. The offer available globally is now open through December 31, 2015. Candidates must provide promotional code Java20 at the time of registration. For details, visit here.
Visit the Duke’s Choice Award winners to see the remarkable work being done today by the Java community.

“Java has grown and evolved to become one of the most important and dependable technologies in our industry today. Those who have chosen Java have been rewarded many times over with increases in performance, scalability, reliability, compatibility, and functionality.The Java ecosystem offers outstanding libraries, frameworks, and resources to help programmers from novice to expert alike. The development of Java itself occurs in the transparent OpenJDK community. With the considerable investment from Oracle and others in the community, we look forward to the next 20 years of Java’s evolution and growth.”

- Georges Saab, vice president of development, Java Platform Group, Oracle

"IBM is celebrating Java's 20th anniversary as one of the most important industry led programming platforms spanning mobile, client and enterprise software platforms. IBM began its commitment to Java at its inception over two decades ago, and has seen the Java ecosystem and developer community bring unsurpassed value to the investments our clients have made in their Java based solutions. IBM looks forward to the next 20 years of growth and innovation in the Java ecosystem including Mobile, Cloud, Analytics and Internet of Things."

-Harish Grama, vice president, Middleware Products, IBM Systems

“Programming languages don’t always live a long life, and those that do, don’t always enjoy a healthy one. But Java has stood the test of time and the test of the vast range of applications using it, from large enterprise systems to small device games.”
- Al Hilwa, IDC program director for Application Development Research


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