The IT realm never stays put resting even after some ground-breaking technology has just been unleashed on the global audience, leaving both professional developers and average users astonished at new vistas it opens before them. Then, enjoying the novelty for a couple of months, savvy programmers start searching for ways to improve and upgrade it to offer a more user-friendly or convenient for various applications version of what seemed the last word in the digital domain only yesterday.
However changeable in the high-tech industry’s preferences might be, some things remain rock-solid in their across-the-board employment by the entire IT community. And speaking of programming languages, Java is the indisputable established leader among its counterparts. Why is Java so popular? If we look at the genesis of this question, we’ll find the answer.
In the early 1990s, the IT community primarily relied on C++ as the principal language for their software development endeavors. However, not everyone liked its principles of operation and applicability, so Sun Microsystems embarked on the journey to enhance its portability and automation of memory management and make it more novice-friendly.
The brainchild was launched in 1992 as Oak, but it turned out to be a totally new language with object-oriented syntax, universally praised for its write-once-run-anywhere potential. Three years later, it was renamed to be known as Java ever since. Why Java was chosen as its name? It was picked out of dozens of other suggestions voiced in the meeting room where the developers gathered to discuss their progress.
Today, the evident benefits of Java, the unflagging support from its creators, and the active assistance of a broad user community have turned this language into a second-to-none ecosystem consisting of several tools.
What is Java best used for? For building almost any software product you can think of. Being an all-terrain language, it suits both major operating systems (Android and iOS). Developers can use it to create mobile and web apps, games, sites, platforms, server networks, and other software in all spheres tamed by the digital revolution.
Given such ubiquity of Java, it is no wonder that there is high demand for outsourcers who are proficient in this language to accomplish various software Java-powered projects.
It may seem that Java’s peak of popularity is far in the past. Java has already been used for 26 years. Advanced programmers are curious about the latest technologies like Objective-C, Node.js, Dart, Go, etc. However, if you look at any job search results, you will see more job offers for Java developers than iOS ones. Here are ten solid reasons why Java dominates globally.
Need Java developers? Check our staff augmentation services.
Large corporations have criticized Java from the very start of its life cycle. That is because it wasn’t a success in building desktop applications. However, Java apps run pretty well on the Windows platform despite the braking.
Steve Jobs has never loved Java. Mac ignored all applications developed on Java, except Adobe. Probably, Steve was right because smartphones with iOS platforms work more smoothly than Android phones.
Regardless of all difficulties, Java grew by leaps and bounds to become suitable for creating desktop apps.
Java Virtual Machine can easily manage hundreds of traffic. Many websites with high traffic use this ability. Java developer writes code on his laptop and then deploys an app on a powerful server.
The modern competitor of Java is Ruby. It has a clearer syntax similar to the live English language. Nevertheless, when Ruby developers need high efficiency, they go back to JRuby that runs over the JVM.
JVM was built and optimized for type-safe code with static context before long programmers understood that JVM could run Java written code. A compiler creates a correct Java bytecode, no matter what language it was written in.
Java is a basic to study for Advanced Placement Computer Science exams designed for middle school students. Usually, Java becomes the first syntax that students learn. Those who continue studying computer science at colleges compare new languages with Java. Java. It’s one of the reasons why hiring offshore developers for the tasks related to the Java programming language is a lot easier.
Java has a lot of learning advantages. Most programmers find specifying data types boring and useless activity. However, it is a perfect way for beginners to understand how a computer is arranged. Current languages don’t use squiggly brackets, but they can help beginners understand the code inside a block.
Java wasn’t the first to build cross-platform applications, but it has become one of the dominating languages for those purposes. Indeed, it doesn’t mean that Java is suitable for building apps on various platforms. Companies working on Java technology create code on their computers and then deploy it on the intended platform, a server, or a phone.
A great variety of frameworks adds value to this programming language and allows developers to choose what they like most.
Java has never been popular for software development, but it succeeded greatly in the mobile apps market. Android is completely built with Java. According to a comparative study carried out by AndroidPub, Android devices are sold better than iOS designed. Here is a worldwide distribution chart as of 2017.
Java was initially designed for TV receivers. Blu-Ray standard is built around Java. Those who want to add new content to Blu-Ray will need to use a Java compiler. With the help of Java, one can add additional functions and interactivity.
Every block of Java code must be put in squiggly brackets. Simplifying changes in syntax doesn’t lead to simplifying the whole coding process. Squiggle brackets can help when your nesting level is too complicated. If your code looks like modern English, it doesn’t mean that it could be understood as easily as a typical English sentence.
If Java developers need clearer and simpler language, they can turn to Groovy. It is an accurate Java hack that allows calling Java libraries out of Groovy code.
Once databases kept bulk information until NoSQL has been introduced. Developers have figured out that they could create their databases and adapt the code to their requirements. The majority of NoSQL was written in Java, for example, Lucene, Cassandra, HBase, ElasticSearch.
Sun company was always a leader in the open-source community, but it hasn’t decided to make Java completely open. It hasn’t kept developers from writing many libraries and projects under open licenses. Apache, for example, keeps providing a lot of Java projects.
Now Java release time has been shortened to six months instead of three years as it was earlier. Thus, this is why developers have to carefully monitor every change done throughout a whole year. The Java community managers will have an opportunity to decide whether to follow those modifications or not.
The use of Java 8 continues dominating over Java 9 due to its clear code and performance. Up to now, Java 9 needs a lot of tools for programmers to migrate in full to the latest version.
The community is waiting for two new releases known as Java 18 and 19. Due to a shorter release time, they will be unambiguously smaller than the previous versions. New releases will introduce additional features concerning reference implementation and library writing. So, a comprehensive list of modifications will be available with a release date approaching.
The main question customers ask is “Is Java good for the software project I have in mind?” To answer it, you should first consider the advantages and disadvantages of Java.
Let’s enumerate the boons of using Java as a programming language.
However, if memory purge is performed manually, developers may forget to do it quite often to free the room. Java has a garbage collector functionality that automatically identifies objects your program doesn’t refer to and removes them.
Alongside unquestionable benefits, Java has some bottlenecks worth mentioning.
More about Java pros and cons.
We at DICEUS use Java in our projects on a daily basis, so we know its shortcomings inside out.
Since the merits of Java are weightier than its demerits, it stays on top of the most-wanted IT technologies list. However, it doesn’t mean it can be employed for any use case. Before opting for it, you should regard the project you want to be implemented and see whether it fits the task.
If you don’t feel confident in making the right choice yourself, it is sensible to address experts in the field. DICEUS can offer you professional advice and handle a Java-based project of any complexity delivering a top-notch product at a reasonable price.
Сarefully sending your request to a manager