The Java Programming Language

Although Java was designed for the network, its utility is not restricted to networks. Platform independence, network-mobility, and security are of prime importance in a networked computing environment, but you may not always find yourself facing network-oriented problems. As a result, you may not always want to write programs that are platform independent. You may not always want to deliver your programs across networks or limit their capabilities with security restrictions. There may be times when you use Java technology primarily because you want to get the advantages of the Java programming language.
As a whole, Java technology leans heavily in the direction of networks, but the Java programming language is quite general-purpose. The Java language allows you to write programs that take advantage of many software technologies:

• object-orientation
• multi-threading
• structured error-handling
• garbage collection
• dynamic linking
• dynamic extension

Instead of serving as a test bed for new and experimental software technologies, the Java language combines in a new way concepts and techniques that had already been tried and proven in other languages. These concepts and techniques make the Java programming language a powerful general-purpose tool that you can apply to a variety of situations, independent of whether or not they involve a network.
At the beginning of a new project, you may be faced with the question, "Should I use C++ (or some other language) for my next project, or should I use Java?" As an implementation language, Java has some advantages and some disadvantages over other languages. One of the most compelling reasons for using Java as a language is that it can enhance developer productivity. The main disadvantage is potentially slower execution speed.
Java is, first and foremost, an object-oriented language. One promise of object-orientation is that it promotes the re-use of code, resulting in better productivity for developers. This may make Java more attractive than a procedural language such as C, but doesn't add much value to Java over C++. Yet compared to C++, Java has some significant differences that can improve a developer's productivity. This productivity boost comes mostly from Java's restrictions on direct memory manipulation.
In Java, there is no way to directly access memory by arbitrarily casting pointers to a different type or by using pointer arithmetic, as there is in C++. Java requires that you strictly obey rules of type when working with objects. If you have a reference (similar to a pointer in C++) to an object of type Mountain, you can only manipulate it as a Mountain. You can't cast the reference to type Lava and manipulate the memory as if it were a Lava. Neither can you simply add an arbitrary offset to the reference, as pointer arithmetic allows you to do in C++. You can, in Java, cast a reference to a different type, but only if the object really is of the new type. For example, if the Mountain reference actually referred to an instance of class Volcano (a specialized type of Mountain), you could cast the Mountain reference to a Volcano reference. Because Java enforces strict type rules at run- time, you are not able to directly manipulate memory in ways that can accidentally corrupt it. As a result, you can't ever create certain kinds of bugs in Java programs that regularly harass C++ programmers and hamper their productivity.
Another way Java prevents you from inadvertently corrupting memory is through automatic garbage collection. Java has a new operator, just like C++, that you use to allocate memory on the heap for a new object. But unlike C++, Java has no corresponding delete operator, which C++ programmers use to free the memory for an object that is no longer needed by the program. In Java, you merely stop referencing an object, and at some later time, the garbage collector will reclaim the memory occupied by the object.
The garbage collector prevents Java programmers from needing to explicitly indicate which objects should be freed. As a C++ project grows in size and complexity, it often becomes increasingly difficult for programmers to determine when an object should be freed, or even whether an object has already been freed. This results in memory leaks, in which unused objects are never freed, and memory corruption, in which the same object is accidentally freed multiple times. Both kinds of memory troubles cause C++ programs to crash, but in ways that make it difficult to track down the exact source of the problem. You can be more productive in Java primarily because you don't have to chase down memory corruption bugs. But also, you can be more productive because when you no longer have to worry about explicitly freeing memory, program design becomes easier.
A third way Java protects the integrity of memory at run-time is array bounds checking. In C++, arrays are really shorthand for pointer arithmetic, which brings with it the potential for memory corruption. C++ allows you to declare an array of ten items, then write to the eleventh item, even though that tramples on memory. In Java, arrays are full-fledged objects, and array bounds are checked each time an array is used. If you create an array of ten items in Java and try to write to the eleventh, Java will throw an exception. Java won't let you corrupt memory by writing beyond the end of an array.
One final example of how Java ensures program robustness is by checking object references, each time they are used, to make sure they are not null. In C++, using a null pointer usually results in a program crash. In Java, using a null reference results in an exception being thrown.
The productivity boost you can get just by using the Java language results in quicker development cycles and lower development costs. You can realize further cost savings if you take advantage of the potential platform independence of Java programs. Even if you are not concerned about a network, you may still want to deliver a program on multiple platforms. Java can make support for multiple platforms easier, and therefore, cheaper.