Top 10 Core Features of Java Programming Language in 5 Minutes

Introduction

Java is a high-level, exclusively object-oriented programming language. Among other OOP languages, it is well-liked because it is a multithreaded, robust, secure, and platform-agnostic programming language. It is commonly used for the creation of software, web, and mobile applications, as well as for big data analytics and server-side technology. Platform independence through the use of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is the main feature of Java language. This allows code to run on various platforms without modification.

Java is a popular option for enterprise-level applications because of its reputation for simplicity, robustness, and security features. In this article, we will discuss the features of Java programming language.

What is Java and Why is it so popular?

Java is a versatile and widely used programming language enabling software to run on diverse platforms without modification. It is designed to allow application developers to write once and execute anywhere (WORA). It means that compiled Java code can run without the requirement for recompilation on all systems that accept Java. For the development of desktop, web, and mobile applications, Java was initially made available in 1995.

Java main feature is indeed platform independence, which is achieved through a combination of key technologies and design principles. It allows developers to write code that can run seamlessly on various platforms. This reduces the development efforts and increases the reach of their applications

Why Use Java?

Learning Java is easy for programmers, and it’s often recommended as a starting point for beginners. Many important industries like government, healthcare, defense, and education still rely on Java for their websites and applications. So, learning Java can be a valuable skill because it can do a wide range of things. If you decide to pursue a career in Java, you have many different job options like Full stack Java developer, Java Backend Developer, Java Architect, etc.

Features of Java Programming Language

Making it an easily portable, user-friendly, and secure programming language was Java’s main feature. The success of this language is mostly due to a number of other great qualities as well. Java buzzwords are another name for the characteristics of Java.

The Java language’s key characteristics are listed in the section below.

1. Platform Independent: Java is platform-independent, allowing programmers to create their code on any computer with any configuration and run it on any other computer with a different setup. Java source code is converted into platform-independent bytecode during compilation.

In actuality, the only program that can interpret this bytecode is the Java Virtual Machine that is installed on our machine. Although each operating system uses a distinct JVM, after the bytecode is executed, all operating systems yield the same results. Java is a platform-independent language for this reason.

2. Object-Oriented Programming Language: Object-oriented programming organizes the program in terms of a collection of objects, each of which represents an instance of the class. The concept of OOPs in Java represents real-world entities, and classes, which define the blueprint for creating objects.

There are four features of OOPs in Java:

• Abstraction
• Encapsulation
• Inheritance
• Polymorphism

3. Simple: Because it lacks sophisticated features like pointers, operator overloading, multiple inheritance, and explicit memory allocation, Java is one of the simpler programming languages.

4. Robust: Java is a powerful and dependable language. Strong memory management is employed. The absence of pointers prevents security issues. To get rid of items that are no longer being utilized by a Java application, Java has automatic garbage collection, which operates on the Java Virtual Machine. In Java, there is an exception handling system and a type-checking system. These factors combine to make Java robust.

5. Secure: Because there are no pointers in Java, trying to access an out-of-bound array results in an ArrayIndexOutOfBound Exception. Because of this, Java cannot be used to exploit certain security weaknesses like stack corruption or buffer overflow. Java programs are more secure because they operate in a setting that is separate from the operating system environment.

6. Distributed: The Java programming language allows us to build distributed applications. Java-distributed applications are made using Remote Method Invocation and Enterprise Java Beans. Java programs are simple to spread among one or more systems that are linked to one another via the internet.

7. Multithreading: Java offers multithreading capability. It is a Java feature that enables the simultaneous execution of two or more software components for optimal CPU efficiency.

8. Portable: As is common knowledge, Java code created on one system can execute on another. Java is portable because of its platform-independent characteristic, which allows its platform-independent bytecode to be run on any platform.

9. High Performance: Because Java bytecode is “close” to native code, it runs more quickly than other conventionally interpreted programming languages. It is still slightly slower than a compiled language (like C++), for example. Java is slower than compiled languages like C, C++, etc. since it is an interpreted language.

10. Interpreted: You’ve probably learned that programming languages either utilize a compiler or an interpreter, but the Java programming language uses both. When Java programs are executed, the JVM interprets the bytecode files that were created during compilation. Additionally, the JVM makes use of a JIT compiler to speed up execution.