Java Courses and Certifications

Java was originally developed by James Gosling at Sun in 1995, and Oracle took over Java in 2009.

Java is probably the language in history with the most libraries available, especially when it comes to developing complex large-scale applications.

In the development environment, Java is compiled into Java bytecode. At runtime, a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) translates this Java bytecode JIT (Just In Time) into machine code.

A compiled Java program can therefore run on, and be moved between, such platforms across different hardware and operating systems.

Java is not officially standardized by ISO, ANSI or similar bodies; it is controlled by Oracle.

Other languages can also be compiled to Java bytecode, which means programs written in those languages can also run on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM), for example:

• C, Lisp, JavaScript, Perl, Prolog, Python, Ruby… 

The C family (C, C++, C#, Java and Python) holds the top five spots on the Top 10 list of the world's most widely used programming languages. (According to TIOBE.)

The C programming language is in second place and forms the basis of virtually every programming language that has seen the light of day since 1972, when C was born. This applies both to the C family itself (C, C++, C# and Java) and to Python in the extended C family.

Newer languages are object-oriented and have exception handling and many other modern concepts, but the procedural structure itself (scopes, variables, operators, flow control, etc.) comes from C. So if you can read C, you can read an algorithm in virtually any newer language.

When you need to learn a new programming language, you can therefore split the task in two:

• Learning how to implement a given algorithm in the language: simple variables, operators, expressions, flow control (if, loops, …)
• Learning about the language's object-oriented model: how classes and objects are handled. 

There are many Java development environments (IDE – Integrated Development Environment). Here are some of the most widely used:

Eclipse
- Open source
- One of Google's recommended environments for Android development
- The world's most widely used Java IDE

IntelliJ IDEA    
- Open source and commercial versions from JetBrains
- This IDE is known for very good code completion (IntelliSense)
- Google is moving from Eclipse to IntelliJ (Android Studio)

BlueJ    
- A good, simple open source Java IDE.

JDeveloper    
- Commercial version from Oracle

NetBeans    
- Open source and commercial versions from Oracle