Learn Android Studio 4: Efficient Java-Based Android Apps Development

Appendix A: Java Refresher

A Brief History

Java is firstly (and foremost) a programming language; it’s also a runtime environment (virtual machine) and has built-in libraries and technology frameworks.

Java began sometime in 1990 while James Gosling was working with (then) Sun Microsystems; he was working on a product that would make Sun an important player in the emerging Internet space. Java wasn’t released in 1990—it would take James Gosling five more years to design and create the Java language. In 1996, Java 1.0 was released.

At the time of writing, Java’s version is 14; it certainly has gone a long way since the 1.0 release. Table A-1 shows the past Java versions.

Table A-1

Java versions

Java version	Version number	Release date
JDK 1.0 (Oak) ...