Search⌘ K
AI Features
Home
Courses
Ace the AP Computer Science Exam for High Schoolers

What is Java?

Explore the fundamentals of Java, a widely used general-purpose programming language. Understand its history, key applications, and why it is chosen for the AP Computer Science A exam. This lesson helps you grasp Java's significance and prepares you for writing Java programs confidently.

We'll cover the following...

Java is a general-purpose programming language, developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems in 1995. It is one of the most popular and widely used programming languages. Later on, it was acquired by Oracle.

Today, Java is used by millions of computer programmers and software developers around the world. In fact, in 2019, Github ranked Java the third most popular language worldwide, outranked only by JavaScript and Python.

💡 Note: Don’t let the name JavaScript confuse you. Java is to JavaScript what car is to carpet. JavaScript was initially called Mochawondering what’s the developers’ obsession with coffees ☕️? Programming and coffee go hand in hand!, but when Sun Microsystems acquired it, its name was changed to JavaScript. Other than this, JavaScript has nothing to do with Java.

Where is Java used?

Java, as we said, is a general-purpose language. Hence, it is used in various domains and applications. We have listed a few common uses below, but this is not an exhaustive list.

  • Mobile application development
  • Web applications
  • Desktop applications
  • Scripting
  • Game development
  • Distributed applications
  • Cloud-based applications

Why Java?

The College Board’s guide for AP Computer Science A says:

The AP Computer Science A course requires that solutions of problems be written in the Java programming language. Because the Java programming language is extensive, with far more features than could be covered in a single introductory course, the AP Computer Science A Exam covers a subset of Java.

With around 25 years of work put into Java by its developers and the community, Java has many features, as do other programming languages like Python, JavaScript, and C++.

Java is typically taught as the first programming language because it covers the most important Computer Science concepts, such as object-oriented programming and concurrency, in great detail. Switching from Java to any other language would be much easier.