Java is an Object-Oriented programming language developed by James Gosling in the early 1990s. The team initiated this project to develop a language for digital devices such as set-top boxes, television, etc. Originally C++ was considered to be used in the project but the idea was rejected for several reasons(For instance C++ required more memory). Gosling endeavoured to alter and expand C++ however before long surrendered that for making another stage called Green. James Gosling and his team called their project “Greentalk” and its file extension was .gt and later became to known as “OAK”.
Why “Oak”?
The name Oak was used by Gosling after an oak tree that remained outside his office. Also, Oak is an image of solidarity and picked as a national tree of numerous nations like the U.S.A., France, Germany, Romania, etc. But they had to later rename it as “JAVA” as it was already a trademark by Oak Technologies. “JAVA” Gosling and his team did a brainstorm session and after the session, they came up with several names such as JAVA, DNA, SILK, RUBY, etc. Java name was decided after much discussion since it was so unique. The name Java originates from a sort of espresso bean, Java. Gosling came up with this name while having a coffee near his office. Java was created on the principles like Robust, Portable, Platform Independent, High Performance, Multithread, etc. and was called one of the Ten Best Products of 1995 by the TIME MAGAZINE. Currently, Java is used in internet programming, mobile devices, games, e-business solutions, etc.
The Java language has experienced a few changes since JDK 1.0 just as various augmentations of classes and packages to the standard library. In Addition to the language changes, considerably more sensational changes have been made to the Java Class Library throughout the years, which has developed from a couple of hundred classes in JDK 1.0 to more than three thousand in J2SE 5. 
History of various Java versions:
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Version |
Release Date |
Major changes |
|---|---|---|
|
JDK Beta |
1995 |
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JDK 1.0 |
January 1996 |
The Very first version was released on January 23, 1996. The principal stable variant, JDK 1.0.2, is called Java 1. |
|
JDK 1.1 |
February 1997 |
Was released on February 19, 1997. There were many additions in JDK 1.1 as compared to version 1.0 such as
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J2SE 1.2 |
December 1998 |
“Play area” was the codename which was given to this form and was released on 8th December 1998. Its real expansion included: strictfp keyword
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J2SE 1.3 |
May 2000 |
Codename- “KESTREL” Release Date- 8th May 2000 Additions:
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J2SE 1.4 |
February 2002 |
Codename- “Merlin” Release Date- 6th February 2002 Additions: Library improvements
Public Support and security updates for this version ended in October 2008. |
|
J2SE 5.0 |
September 2004 |
Codename- “Tiger” Release Date- “30th September 2004” Originally numbered as 1.5 which is still used as its internal version. Added several new language features such as:
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JAVA SE 6 |
December 2006 |
Codename- “Mustang” Released Date- 11th December 2006 Packaged with a database supervisor and encourages the utilization of scripting languages with the JVM. Replaced the name J2SE with java SE and dropped the .0 from the version number. Additions:
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JAVA SE 7 |
July 2011 |
Codename- “Dolphin” Release Date- 7th July 2011 Added small language changes including strings in the switch. The JVM was extended with support for dynamic languages. Additions:
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JAVA SE 8 |
March 2014 |
Released Date- 18th March 2014 Language level support for lambda expressions and default methods and a new date and time API inspired by Joda Time. |
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JAVA SE 9 |
September 2017 |
Release Date: 21st September 2017 Project Jigsaw: designing and implementing a standard, a module system for the Java SE platform, and to apply that system to the platform itself and the JDK. |
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JAVA SE 10 |
March 2018 |
Released Date- 20th March Addition:
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JAVA SE 11 |
September 2018 |
Released Date- 25th September, 2018 Additions-
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JAVA SE 12 |
March 2019 |
Released Date- 19th March 2019 Additions-
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