History of Java: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:44, 13 November 2004

Revision as of 23:25, 16 November 2004

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Their platform was an embedded platform and had limited resources. Many members found that C++ was too complicated and developers often misused it. They found C++'s lack of [[garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collection]] to also be a problem. Security, [[distributed programming]], and [[Thread (computer science)|thread]]ing support was also required. Finally, they wanted a platform that could be easily ported to all types of devices.

According to the available accounts, Bill Joy had ideas of a new language combining the best of [[MESAMesa programming language|MESAMesa]] and C. He proposed, in a paper called Further, to Sun that its engineers should produce an [[object-oriented]] environment based on C++. James Gosling's frustrations with C++ began while working on Imagination, an [[SGML]] editor. Initially, James attempted to modify and extend C++, which he referred to as C++ ++ --, but soon abandoned that in favor of creating an entirely 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 by the summer of 1992, they were able to demo portions of the new platform including the Green [[operating system|OS]], Oak the language, the libraries, and the hardware. Their first attempt focused on building a [[Personal Digital Assistant|PDA]]-like device having a highly graphical interface and a smart agent called Duke to assist the user.