Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
fleshed out the notes. need more info about the history, especially after 1995 |
||
Line 7:
== History ==
=== Early Years ===
The Java platform and language began as an internal project at Sun Microsystems, Inc in the December 1990 timeframe. Patrick Naughton, an engineer at Sun, had become increasingly frustrated with the state of Sun's C++ and C APIs and tools. While considering moving to Next, Patrick
was offered a chance to work on new technology and thus the Stealth Project was started.
The Stealth Project was soon renamed to '''The Green Project''' with James Gosling and Mike Sheridan joining Patrick Naughton. They together with some other engineers began work in a
small office near Sand Hill Dr to develop a new technology. The team originally considered C++
as the language to use, but found that C++ problematic for several reasons.
Their platform was an embedded platform and had limited resources. Many members found the C++ was
too complicated and developers often misused it. They found C++ lack of garbage collection to also be a problem. Finally, they wanted a platform that could be easily ported to all types of devices
and so James Gosling began work on a new language, called ```Oak''' named after the oak tree
that stood just outside his office.
Like many stealth projects working on new technology, the team worked long hours and
June/July 1994. After 3 day brain storm session with John Gage, James Gosling, Bill Joy, Patrick Naughton, Wayne Rosing, and Eric Schmidt, they decided to used the technology for the internet.▼
by the summer of 1992, they were able to demo portions of the new platform. Their first attempt
focused on building a PDA like device having a highly graphical interface and a smart agent
called Duke to assist the user.
The device was named Star7 after a telephone feature activated by '*7' on a telephone keypad. The feature enabled users to answer the telephone anywhere. The PDA device itself was demonstrated on September 3, 1992.
1994. Oak renamed as Java after a search found that the name had already been copyrighted for another language. Java chosen at a local coffee shop for the names '''J'''ames Gosling, '''A'''rthur '''V'''an hoff and '''A'''ndy Bechtolsheim.▼
In November of that year, the Green Project was renamed to becom FirstPerson. The FirstPerson team
was interested in building highly interactive devices and when Time-Warner issued an RFP for
a set top box, FirstPerson responded. However, the cable industry felt that their platform gave
too much control to the user and so their set top box platform to generate any interest.
▲In June
was on its way to evolving into the same highly interactive vision that they had had for the cable TV network.
It was also in 1994, that Oak was renamed to Java. A search revealved that Oak had already been
copyrighted for another language so the team searched for a new name. The name Java was coined at
▲
Java 1.0a was made available in for download in 1994, but the first public release of Java came
on May 23, 1995 at the SunWorld conference. The annoucement was made by John Gage, the Director
of Science for Sun Microsystems, Inc. His annoucement was accompanied by a surprise announcement
by Marc Andreessen, Executive Vice President of Netscape. Marc annouced that Netscape would be
including java in Netscape.
In January of 1996, the JavaSoft business group was formed by Sun Microsystems to develop the technology.
=== Java as a Commercial Product ===
| |||