Written by Jamie Mercer

Tuesday, 23 May 2017

Can you believe that Java was first publicly

launched 22 years ago? Few could have foreseen
that the language would go on to be such an
influential part of computing and still remain
relevant over two decades later. This is especially
so when you take into consideration the humble
beginnings of Java and its original intentions.

In 1990, Sun Microsystems employees were

growing tired with C and C++. Engineer Patrick
Naughton was frustrated at Suns APIs and was
given the opportunity to do something about it; he
would create an alternative language as part of
The Stealth Project.

There were five requirements from this

experiment. The new language had to:
1. be simple, object-oriented and familiar
2. be robust and secure
3. be architecture-neutral and portable
4. execute with high performance
5. be interpreted, threaded and dynamic

The Stealth Project was soon renamed the Green

Project and Naughton was joined by Mike Sheridan
and James Gosling. With the team formed, they
started working on developing new technologies
that would be suitable for the next generation of
smart appliances.

The first attempts looked at combining C and

Mesa, producing an object-oriented environment
in C++, and Gosling even tried creating a new
form of C++ which he called C++ ++ -- which is
a bit of a mouthful, to say the least.
C++ would be cast aside as it required too
much memory and had a tendency to lead to
developer errors thanks to its complexity due
largely to developers having to manually
manage the system memory.

The new language, named Oak after a tree that

grew outside of Goslings office, was eventually
completed after 18 months and by the fall of
1992 the team was ready to showcase their
work in a private demonstration. The team had
created a personal digital assistant called Star 7
(stylised as *7) which also included a helpful
assistant called Duke; the first sighting of the
future Java mascot. Only four or five models are
understood to exist.

Sun Microsystems decided to split The Green

Project into a subsidiary and renamed it
FirstPerson, tasking the group to focus on the TV
market. Time Warner contracted FirstPerson to
create a series of interactive set-top boxes. The
pitch involved the creation of a set-top box
platform which cable bosses thought put too
much power in the hands of the TV viewers so
the idea was scrapped and FirstPerson lost their
bid to SGI. Unable to secure another deal (a deal
with The 3DO Company also fell through),
FirstPerson was eventually rolled back into Sun.

In June 1994, after several days of brainstorming

and meetings, the team decided to target the
emerging World Wide Web platform. In it, they saw
all of the interactive media qualities that inspired
them to work with set-top boxes and felt that with
graphical web browsers such as Mosaic they could
continue their interest there instead.

Trouble would come after a legal challenge from

Oak Technology resulting in the need for a rebrand
for the Oak language. James Gosling described this
process as wild craziness during which most of
the words in the dictionary were yelled out. Close
contenders included suggestions such as Silk and
DNA but eventually the team settled on Java.

There are disagreements as to who came up with

the name Java. Some say the group came up with
10 suggested names and picked Java as the best
of the bunch once they were approved by the legal
department. Others, such as Kim Polese, then the
Oak Product Manager, claim to have deliberately
suggested the name because it reflected the
essence of the technology as it was lively,
dynamic and fun.

With its new name, Java 1.0a2 was formally

revealed at the SunWorld Conference in San
Francisco on 23 May 1995. At the same time,
Netscape also announced that it would license
Java for its latest browser. John Gage, Sun
Microsystems Director of Science would also
announce the launch of the HotJava Browser.

This infographic has a timeline that covers much

of Java's history prior to Oracle's acquisition of Sun
in 2010 and then looks at the Java version history,
even including JDK 9, which now is probably not
going to include Project Jigsaw, see No Vote For
Java's Project Jigsaw Module System.

Since 1995, Java has infiltrated all manner of our

everyday interactions. Banks often use Java in
Point of Sale devices, sending customer data to
and from necessary locations to make
payments. Mobile phones use Java for Android
apps as well as and the Android OS is also based
on it. Video games also make use of the
language, with the massively successful
Minecraft built by Mojang a prime example.

Put simply, the world would be a different place

without Java, and for that we raise a glass to the
language formerly known as Oak. Happy
Birthday, Java - we cant wait to see what the
next 22 years have in store.
 Jamie Mercer is a technology writer
covering all things web and software
development. His key interests encompass
technology management, DevOps and
recruitment.