7 Features of Java

Table Of Content:

1. Introduction to Java
2. Features of Java

• Platform Independent
• Object-Oriented
• What is object-oriented programming?
• Simple
• Robust
• Architecture Neutral
• Multi-threaded
• High Performance

1. Other features and Functionality
2. Why should I learn Java?

• Android Development
• Web Application Development

1. FAQs:

Introduction to Java

Are you getting started to learn Java? A language has its paradigm and features to power development. It is very essential to realise and understand the features of the language to become a good developer. These features will help you explore and make the best use case of the programming language.

It is one of the oldest object-oriented programming languages. It is one of the highly relied and demanded languages in the developer market. The reason for such high demand is its versatility and security. It is widely used to develop Mobile(Android) application development, Desktop GUI application development, Enterprise application development, distributed application, cloud-based application and Gaming application. According to StackOverflow developer survey of 2020, it is one of the top 10 most wanted languages. You have lots of reasons to learn it.

Let’s explore the major features of Java:

Platform Independent

It has a core philosophy of Write Once, Run Anywhere. Java is compiled into a platform-independent form — Byte Code. Byte-Code can be run on any machine which is interpreted by the Java Virtual Machine(JVM) installed on them.

Object-Oriented

It started as a language to overcome the limitations of C++. It is a purely object-oriented programming language. The object-oriented approach makes Java secure, reliable and scalable.

What is object-oriented programming?

Object-oriented programming is a paradigm of programming. The other commonly known paradigms of programming are functional programming, procedural programming and task-oriented programming. Object-oriented programming is based on objects which contain data and methods (functions). It promotes modularity and reusability.

The important features of Object-oriented programming are:

• Abstraction
• Inheritance
• Encapsulation
• Polymorphism

Secure

Language before Java such as C++ had a major drawback of security. It has features to ensure enterprise-level security in its applications. The features such as runtime checking, no use of pointers, exception handling, access control and type-checking, are responsible to provide such high-security standards to Java.

Simple

It is simple syntax and great readability due to the modular nature of code. It is easy for a beginner to start off and understand the key principles of the language.

Robust

It is a robust programming language. It is termed robust or strong for its strong features such as efficient memory management, automatic garbage collection, exception handling and type checking. These features make it the preferred language to develop huge enterprise applications with ease and reliability.

Architecture Neutral

It has solved the binary-distribution problem. It converts the code into “binary code format” that is independent of hardware architectures, operating system interfaces, and window system. Its run-time platforms are used for different hardware and software environments. Any Java code written on with any system configuration can run on any different system without the need to change the code. The format of “Byte code format is system independent making it architecture-neutral.

Multi-threaded

It gives you the ability to run multiple processes together to maximise the utilisation of CPU. These threads are run in parallel. It is also known as concurrency in Java. As a developer, using the multithreading feature of it you can build interactive applications.

High Performance

It has Just-In-time compilers that make it faster and enable high performance.

Other features and functionality of Java:

There are various other aspects of it that make it a desirable choice to learn and do development:

• Community Support — It has matured over time and has a constant large developer community. It is always great to have community support to resolve issues and grow together as a community.
• It is owned by Oracle and has huge support from Google and IBM.
• There are some of the best IDEs for development in it. It makes it easier to debug, develop and test the software. The most popular ones are Eclipse and Netbeans.
• It has a huge open-source library to experiment and use in your projects.
• There are frameworks based on it that are used for Rapid Application Development (RAD). Some of the most popular frameworks are Spring, Vaadin, Hibernate and JSF (JavaServer Faces).

Why should I learn Java?

Java is a versatile language. You can explore diverse developments with this one language. It has a market and makes your skill employable. If you are interested to know the salary offered of Java developer then according to Indeed.com, The average salary of a Java developer in the USA is $103476. It is quite higher than in many competitive languages. You can do development in the following areas:

Android Development

Android development is one of the recent excitement. It is a growing field and most of the companies are making new development in this field. Flutterby Google is gaining popularity nowadays. React-native by Facebook is also a popular choice among Android developers. Android programming is based on Java programming language. So it is a prerequisite to learn java to get started with android development.

Kotlin is the most popular choice among Android developers. Many organisations are shifting their codebase to Kotlin. You can learn more about it with Ninja Android Developer Track.

Web Application Development

Java is also popular to build secure, robust and scalable web applications. Java servlets, JSPs and web containers are the technologies popular for web development.

FAQs:

1. Python vs Java: Which is better?

Both languages are quite popular and well adapted. Python has recently gained popularity. There have speculations about java going to be obsolete soon. But that is not the reality. Java is going nowhere any soon. It is still used and has major codebase of enterprise-level development. Companies are hiring and looking for the developers.

Both the languages are object-oriented, have cross-platform support, extensive libraries and great community support. You can choose according to your personal preference. If you are interested in exploring machine learning specific go for python. If you want to become an android developer go with java.

2. What are the benefits of Java?

• Easy to learn
• Object-oriented
• Reusable code
• Platform Independent
• Employability
• Performance

3. What are the features of programming?

There are various features that we look in a programming language. The most common features are

• Statically typed/Dynamically Typed
• Modularity
• General-purpose/ Purpose specific
• Efficiency and performance
• Multithreaded / Single-threaded
• Libraries/Package

4. What are the object-oriented features of Java?

The object-oriented features of Java are :

1. Abstraction
2. Encapsulation
3. Inheritance
4. Polymorphism