Java是由James Gosling在 1990 年代初期开发的一种面向对象的编程语言。该团队发起了这个项目，为机顶盒、电视等数字设备开发一种语言。最初考虑在该项目中使用 C++，但由于多种原因（例如 C++ 需要更多内存），该想法被拒绝。 Gosling 努力改变和扩展 C++，但不久就放弃了，因为它创造了另一个名为Green 的阶段。 James Gosling 和他的团队称他们的项目为“ Greentalk ”，其文件扩展名为.gt ，后来被称为“ OAK ”。
为什么是“橡木”？
高斯林在他办公室外的一棵橡树之后使用了橡树这个名字。此外，Oak 是团结的象征，被美国、法国、德国、罗马尼亚等众多国家选为国树。但后来不得不将其重命名为“ Java ”，因为它已经是Oak Technologies的商标。
“Java”
Gosling 和他的团队进行了头脑风暴会议，会议结束后，他们想出了几个名字，如Java、DNA、SILK、RUBY 等。
Java名称是经过多次讨论后决定的，因为它是如此独特。 Java这个名字来源于一种浓缩咖啡豆， Java。高斯林在办公室附近喝咖啡时想到了这个名字。
Java是根据健壮性、可移植性、平台独立性、高性能、多线程等原则创建的，被时代杂志评为1995年十大最佳产品之一。
目前， Java用于互联网编程、移动设备、游戏、电子商务解决方案等Java语言自JDK 1.0以来经历了一些变化，就像对标准库的类和包的各种扩充一样。除了语言上的变化之外，这些年来Java类库也发生了更多令人震惊的变化，从 JDK 1.0 中的几百个类发展到 J2SE 5 中的三千多个。
各种Java版本的历史：
| Version | Release Date | Major changes |
|---|---|---|
| JDK Beta | 1995 | |
| JDK 1.0 | January 1996 | The Very first version was released on January 23, 1996. The principal stable variant, JDK 1.0.2, is called Java 1. |
| JDK 1.1 | February 1997 | Was released on February 19, 1997. There were many additions in JDK 1.1 as compared to version 1.0 such as
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| J2SE 1.2 | December 1998 | “Play area” was the codename which was given to this form and was released on 8th December 1998. Its real expansion included: strictfp keyword
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| J2SE 1.3 | May 2000 | Codename- “KESTREL” Release Date- 8th May 2000 Additions:
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| J2SE 1.4 | February 2002 | Codename- “Merlin” Release Date- 6th February 2002 Additions: Library improvements
Public Support and security updates for this version ended in October 2008. |
| J2SE 5.0 | September 2004 | Codename- “Tiger” Release Date- “30th September 2004” Originally numbered as 1.5 which is still used as its internal version. Added several new language features such as:
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| JAVA SE 6 | December 2006 | Codename- “Mustang” Released Date- 11th December 2006 Packaged with a database supervisor and encourages the utilization of scripting languages with the JVM. Replaced the name J2SE with ava SE and dropped the .0 from the version number. Additions:
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| JAVA SE 7 | July 2011 | Codename- “Dolphin” Release Date- 7th July 2011 Added small language changes including strings in the switch. The JVM was extended with support for dynamic languages. Additions:
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| JAVA SE 8 | March 2014 | Released Date- 18th March 2014 Language level support for lambda expressions and default methods and a new date and time API inspired by Joda Time. |
| JAVA SE 9 | September 2017 | Release Date: 21st September 2017 Project Jigsaw: designing and implementing a standard, a module system for the Java SE platform, and to apply that system to the platform itself and the JDK. |
| JAVA SE 10 | March 2018 | Released Date- 20th March Addition:
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| JAVA SE 11 | September 2018 | Released Date- 25th September, 2018 Additions-
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| JAVA SE 12 | March 2019 | Released Date- 19th March 2019 Additions-
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