Java was developed by Sun Microsystems and went mainstream in 1995, it is an implementation of the OAK language.

Java is an object orientated, high level, general purpose programming language that has become widely used on the WWW due to its cross platform compatibility.

Java source code is compiled into what is called bytecode, which can then be run by Java interpreters and runtime enviroments (Java Virtual Machines) which are available for most platforms including Windows, Unix and Macintosh OS.

Java applets are small applications written in Java and are common within the WWW enviroment. For example, a chat applet can be downloaded and executed within the run time enviroment integrated into your web browser. Java is supported by all of the major web browsers, including Firefox, Internet explorer, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

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