Java基础（一）：Java的历史

简史

1990年12月，Java来自于Sun公司的一个叫Green的项目，其原先的目的是为家用消费电子产品开发一个分布式代码系统，这样我们可以把E-mail发给电冰箱、电视机等家用电器，对它们进行控制，和它们进行信息交流。开始，准备采用C++,但C++太复杂，安全性差。

1991年，Sun公司的James Gosling、Patrick Naughton、Chris Warth、Ed Frank和Mike Sheridan共同构想的成果，最后基于C++开发一种新的语言Oak(Java的前身)，Oak是一种用于网络的精巧而安全的语言。

1992年11月，Sun公司的Green计划被转化成了“FirstPerson有限公司”，Sun公司的全资子公司，该公司还曾用OaK投标一个电视机顶盒项目，但结果是被SGI打败。可怜的Oak几乎无家可归。

1994年6、7月间，Mosaic和Netscape启发了Oak项目组成员，他们用Java编制了HotJava浏览器，得到了Sun公司首席执行官Scott McNealy的支持，触发了Java进军Internet。

Java的取名也有一个趣闻：1995年的一天，几位Java成员组的会员正在讨论给这个新的语言取什么名字，当时他们正在咖啡馆喝着Java(爪哇)咖啡，有一个人灵机一动说就叫Java怎样，得到了其他人的赞赏，于是，Java这个名字就这样传开了。

发展

1995年5月23日，Java语言诞生
1996年1月，第一个JDK-JDK1.0诞生
1996年4月，10个最主要的操作系统供应商申明将在其产品中嵌入JAVA技术
1996年9月，约8.3万个网页应用了JAVA技术来制作
1997年2月18日，JDK1.1发布
1997年4月2日，JavaOne会议召开，参与者逾一万人，创当时全球同类会议规模之纪录
1997年9月，JavaDeveloperConnection社区成员超过十万
1998年2月，JDK1.1被下载超过2,000,000次
1998年12月8日，JAVA2企业平台J2EE发布
1999年6月，SUN公司发布Java的三个版本：标准版、企业版和微型版（J2SE、J2EE、J2ME）
2000年5月8日，JDK1.3发布
2000年5月29日，JDK1.4发布
2001年6月5日，NOKIA宣布，到2003年将出售1亿部支持Java的手机
2001年9月24日，J2EE1.3发布
2002年2月26日，J2SE1.4发布，自此Java的计算能力有了大幅提升。
2004年9月30日18:00PM，J2SE1.5发布，是Java语言的发展史上的又一里程碑事件。为了表示这个版本的重要性，J2SE1.5更名为J2SE5.0
2005年6月，JavaOne大会召开，SUN公司公开Java SE 6。此时，Java的各种版本已经更名以取消其中的数字“2”：J2EE更名为Java EE, J2SE更名为Java SE，J2ME更名为Java ME。
2006年11月13日，SUN公司宣布Java全线采纳GNU General Public License Version 2，从而公开了Java的源代码。
截至2009年8月4日， Java SE 6中提供的更新是15 。

Sun网站的Java历史相关内容

The Java History Timeline

1991	The Green Project Begins MS DOS is the dominant operating system Cell phones weigh half a pound "Biosphere 2" project begins
1992	"Oak" is the language *7 Debuts "Duke" is featured in the Interface Johnny Carson signs off "The Tonight Show" on NBC
1993	The Green Project becomes FirstPerson Mosaic v1.0 is released "Cheers" ends an 11-year run
1994	WebRunner released — the first browser that supports moving objects and dynamic executable content The Apple QuickTake 100, the first consumer digital camera, goes on sale for less than $1,000 "Friends" debuts on NBC
1995	Java technology released to a select group on the Web site wicked.neato.org The San Jose Mercury News runs a front-page article about Java technology Name changed from "Oak" to "Java" Announced at Sun World -- Java technology is officially born
1996	The first JavaOne Developer Conference JDKtm 1.0 software is released Chess computer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov for the first time "Dolly" the first cloned sheep is born
1997	Over 220,000 downloads of JDK 1.1 software occur in just three weeks JavaOne draws 8,000 attendees, becoming the world's largest developer conference Java Card 2.0 platform is unveiled 43% of U.S. families own a computer
1998	JDK 1.1 release downloads top 2 million Visa launches world's first smart card based on Java Card technology The Java Community Process (JCP) program formalized "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" premieres in the U.K
1999	Java 2 platform source code is released JavaOne draws 20,000 J2EE beta software is released "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" released
2000	Over 400 Java User Groups are established worldwide Java Developer Connection program tops 1.5 million members Steve Jobs joins Scott McNealy on stage at JavaOne to announce a major commitment by Apple in support of Java technology Heavy Metal band Metallica sues Napster for copyright violations
2001	First international JavaOne conference in Yokohama Japan Over 1 million downloads of the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) SDK Google Inc. PageRank search algorithm patent awarded "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is released
2002	J2EE SDK downloads reach 2 million 78% of executives view J2EE technology as the most effective platform for building and deploying Web services The Euro is introduced "The Osbournes" becomes a surprise hit on MTV
2003	Java technology runs in almost 550 million desktops Almost 75% of professional developers use Java programming language as their primary development language Commercial Voice-Over-Internet (VoiP) phone service begins "The Da Vinci Code" is published
2004	Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 5 (Project Tiger) is released The Java technology-powered Mars Rover (Spirit) touches down on Mars Sun Java Studio Creator is launched
2005	Java technology celebrates its 10th birthday Approximately 4.5 million developers use Java technology Over 2.5 billion Java technology-enabled devices are available java.com bundles the Google Toolbar with the JRE download
2006	Rich Green announces at the JavaOne 2006 Conference that it's not a matter of when Sun will open source Java technology, but how. The NetBeans IDE 5.0 is released. Sun open-sourced Java EE components as the Glassfish Project to java.net. Java SE and ME initial components are released as open source. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is released.

 

Who's Who

Scott McNealy
Chairman & CEO, Sun Microsystems

John Gage
Chief Researcher & Director of the Science Office, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

James Gosling
Fellow & Chief Technology Officer of Sun's Developer Products, Green Team original, FirstPerson employee, original member Java Products Group, lead engineer and key architect of Java technology

Bill Joy
Cofounder of Sun Microsystems, Inc., principal designer of the University of California, Berkeley, version of the UNIX® operating system, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Eric Schmidt
CEO of Google, former Sun Microsystems chief technical officer

Tim Lindholm
Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems and a member of the Consumer and Mobile Systems Group. He is the Architect of the Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME, formerly J2ME), a FirstPerson employee, original member Java Products Group

George Paolini
Vice President & General Manager, Java Solutions, Borland & former Director of corporate marketing, Sun's Java Software Division

Amy Fowler
Senior Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems, founding member of the Java Swing GUI Toolkit, FirstPerson employee, original member Java Products Group

Alan E. Baratz, Ph.D
CEO and President, NeoPath Networks, and former president of Sun's Java Software Division

 

Java历史的Flash演示链接

http://www.java.com/en/javahistory/java_history_final_4.swf