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What is Java used for?
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First I wanted to point out this:
From Java.com
This statement sounds weird to me. They don't list specific uses or applications. I'm wondering why is Java used rather than some other language?
Are there practical uses for Java apart from the web? I know that browsers include the Java runtime for web applications, but is it still commonly used on the web? My impression is that Flash (though I dislike it) and scripting languages can accomplish doing all or most of what Java has existed for on the web. Is Java still used on cellphones (for games, or what else)? I just never come across Java but it's still one of the major languages taught in school. Am I way off in thinking Java isn't important anymore?
From Java.com
Why do I need Java?
There are lots of applications and websites that won't work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!
This statement sounds weird to me. They don't list specific uses or applications. I'm wondering why is Java used rather than some other language?
Are there practical uses for Java apart from the web? I know that browsers include the Java runtime for web applications, but is it still commonly used on the web? My impression is that Flash (though I dislike it) and scripting languages can accomplish doing all or most of what Java has existed for on the web. Is Java still used on cellphones (for games, or what else)? I just never come across Java but it's still one of the major languages taught in school. Am I way off in thinking Java isn't important anymore?
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Java is often taught as introductory language because it's a modern, object-oriented language that's well-known and in practical use, versus something C++, which has decades upon decades of cruft and jury-rigging to the language and honestly isn't the friendliest thing ever, or more esoteric and less practical languages like Smalltalk and co. The damn thing also has runtimes for like every platform ever. Even if you never code a Java app ever again, the fundamental concepts it forces you to ingrain is used in most other modern language you'll ever come across.
It's popular among large corporations because, as mentioned by Zxerol, it is taught by MANY universities, and therefore there is a big talent market to hire from. Also because Java is fairly platform independent, blah blah blah [technical/business stuff here].
The reason most people install Java on their computers is so that they can run Java website PLUGINS, which are analogous to Flash movies in some ways.
Java was used this way for quite a while because prior to 2007, you couldn't do any real serious kind of programming with Flash... so if you needed to put something in a browser like... say... a hardcore physics simulation.. or a 3D sandbox game... Java was your only option.
But that is not very common anymore, with a few notable exceptions. You don't *need* java anymore at all to experience 99.9999% of the web.
Java *is* everywhere. But for the most part, it's not in your browser window.
Until the inevitable suicide that is.
I'm also a huge fan of the Java VM. Cross platform applications FTW; Java is an easy way to write something that works on Windows, Linux, and OS X without thinking too hard about it. You've also got all these languages like JRuby and Closure that either run on the VM or compile into Java bytecode. JRuby was actually faster than normal Ruby for some time because the Java VM is so optimized.
It's not suicide, your wrists just start bleeding spontaneously.
Very fair nitpick. I didn't realize this was the case. I didn't know browsers just used the existing Java runtime environment from the OS, I thought it came with the browsers.
Going off on a security tangent, so you can disable Java within the browser, which will decrease your vulnerability when viewing sites, but you'll still have it on your OS. I see.
It's making a lot more sense now knowing its likelier to be in enterprise and special-devices. I just haven't happened to use any Winodws program except OpenOffice which explicitly wanted to install Java VM or some full Java install for additional features, yet there may be more unseen instances of it.
That's probably why OpenOffice recommends you install their special blend of Java
I thought that was just because if you install OpenOffice.org but don't have Java, most people are completely lost and don't understand why it doesn't work.
Also make sure you're not mixing up JavaScript and plain ol' Java. JavaScript is the thing thats built into browsers and is the source of a bunch of malware attacks.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
I totally forgot about JSP.
At least with Ada when you ask for your wrists to be slashed you can absolutely positively guarantee that it is your wrist that will get slashed and not your elbows or ankles. No matter how much they might look like wrists.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
:^:
There are two types of people who talk about "benefits of type-safety in a statically typed language":
A) Those that have used Ada
Ada has mutha-fuckin' types. Other languages have useless line noise you put around variable declarations.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I'm so happy with Java, now I've got to change all my god damn passwords, and reformat.
There is also Haskell. That is pretty serious about its types.
This is exactly why you should enable 2-factor authentication for your Google account.