The history of Java to the early 1990s when a team of developers at Sun Microsystems, led by "James Gosling", "Patrick Naughton", and "Mike Sheridan", initiated the project.
Here's a brief overview of the Java's history:
In 1991, "James Gosling" and his team at Sun Microsystems began developing a new programming language initially called "Oak" for use in consumer electronic devices.
The project aimed to address the challenges of programming heterogeneous consumer electronics by creating a platform-independent language.
"Oak" was later renamed "Java", inspired by the name of a type of coffee that the developers often enjoyed.
Java 1.0 was officially released by Sun Microsystems on January 23, 1996.
This release included the core features of the Java language, such as the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Java API (Application Programming Interface), and the Java Development Kit (JDK).
Following its release, Java gained popularity rapidly, especially for web development due to its suitability for creating interactive and dynamic content.
Applets, small Java programs embedded within web pages, became a popular way to add interactivity to websites.
Java's platform independence and security features contributed to its widespread adoption in various industries, including finance, telecommunications, and enterprise software.
The Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE), was released in December 1998, introducing significant updates and improvements to the language and runtime environment.
This release included features such as Swing GUI toolkit, Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI), and the Java Collections Framework.
Java's popularity in enterprise software development grew with the introduction of technologies such as Java Enterprise Edition (J2EE, later renamed Java EE), which provided standards and APIs for building scalable and robust server-side applications.
Frameworks like Spring and Hibernate emerged to simplify enterprise application development in Java.
Oracle Corporation acquired Sun Microsystems in January 2010, taking over stewardship of the Java platform.
Java continued to evolve under Oracle's leadership, with new versions and updates released regularly.
Java 8 (2014) introduced lambda expressions, the Stream API, and other features to enhance functional programming capabilities.
Java 9 (2017) introduced the module system (Project Jigsaw) and other enhancements.
Subsequent releases have focused on improving performance, security, and developer productivity.
As of now, Oracle Java SE Support Roadmap: Java JDK Version: 21 Long Term Support (LTS)