Before discussing JAVA programming, let me first define
the word "Programming".
Programming
Computers are known to be the most power
machine man has invented in terms of processing data or information.
Why? Simply because computer can do the things faster more than a
million times faster than man.
But Computers can also be known as one of the dummiest
device man has ever invented. Why? Computers cannot think by themselves.
Man has to tell what the computers what to do. Man creates a sequence
of events that a computer can do which can be called a Program.
Programming is actually the act of telling
the computer what to do through a series instruction which is called
a program. A program is just a list of procedures or instructions
the computer must do.
Computers are machines and therefore machines can
only read machine codes. Humans cannot read
what machine can read. It is also true that Machines
cannot read what Human can read. For this reason, we need a
translator which can translate Human readable programs into machine
readable program.
The Old Programming Paradigm;
- When we create programs, the programs we created
is Machine Specific. Meaning, if I wrote a program in Intel PC(s),
it cannot run in Motorola based PC(s), and others.
- The programs is also Operating System Specific.
A program written in Windows Platform cannot run in a LINUX, UNIX,
OS2, platform.
The JAVA Concept
The advent of internet sparked this revolution in
making a unified software programming tool that will make all written
program run in different machines and different Operating Systems.
JAVA program is sometimes noted as "write once, run anywhere".
JAVA was developed by SUN and you can download it at http://www.javasoft.com
for free. Download the JDK (Java Developers Kit).
How does it work?
If you write a program, JAVA compiler converts it
into BYTECODES. Bytecodes are machine readable codes. These
codes are not yet machine executable. How do we execute the ByteCodes?
The JAVA Virtual Machine must also be installed to your machine. This
bytecodes is now translated by JAVA VM to the codes understood by
your machine and operating system.
Can a Java program written in Windows platform still
run in LINUX system?
If you write a JAVA program in Windows platform, the
generated bytecodes can be executed by a LINUX machine. You need to
install JAVA VM for Linux, and the translation takes place as soon
as you execute the ByteCodes.
RPB
