JAVA CHAPTER 1 Vocab Terms

Java

(1) Sun's trademark for a set of technologies for creating and safely running software programs in both stand-alone and networked environments. (2) An Object Oriented Program with a robust and extensive library, able to be ran on any computer without any special programs or OS modifications.

Eclipse

A Java-based open source platform that allows a software developer to create a customized development environment (IDE) from plug-in components built by Eclipse members. Eclipse is managed and directed by the Eclipse.org Consortium.

Hierarchy

A classification of relationships in which each item except the top one (known as the root) is a specialized form of the item above it. Each item can have one or more items below it in the hierarchy. In the Java class hierarchy, the root is the Object class.

JIT Compiler

A compiler that converts all of the bytecode into native machine code just as a Java program is run. This results in run-time speed improvements over code that is interpreted by a Java virtual machine.

Interpreter

A module that alternately decodes and executes every statement in some body of code. The Java interpreter decodes and executes bytecode for the Java virtual machine.

Compiler

A program to translate source code into code to be executed by a computer. The Java compiler translates source code written in the Java programming language into bytecode for the Java virtual machine*. See also interpreter.

IDE

An integrated development environment(IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of a source code editor, build automation tools and a debugger. Most modern IDEs have intelligent code completion.

JAR

In software, JAR (Java Archive) is a package file format typically used to aggregate many Java class files and associated metadata and resources (text, images, etc.) into one file to distribute application software or libraries on the Java platform.

Javac

Javac (pronounced "java-see") is the primary Java compiler included in the Java Development Kit (JDK) from Oracle Corporation. The compiler accepts source code conforming to the Java language specification (JLS) and produces bytecode conforming to the Java Virtual Machine Specification (JVMS).

OOP

Object-oriented programming (OOP) refers to a type of computer programming (software design) in which programmers define not only the data type of a data structure, but also the types of operations (functions) that can be applied to the data structure.

JDB

The Java Debugger, JDB, is a simple command-line debugger for Java classes. It is a demonstration of the Java Platform Debugger Architecture that provides inspection and debugging of a local or remote Java Virtual Machine.

JDK

The Java Development Kit (JDK) is a software development environment used for developing Java applications and applets. It includes the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), an interpreter/loader (java), a compiler (javac), an archiver (jar), a documentation generator (javadoc) and other tools needed in Java development.

JRE

The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is a set of software tools for development of Java applications. It combines the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), platform core classes and supporting libraries. JRE is part of the Java Development Kit (JDK), but can be downloaded separately.

JVM

The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is the runtime engine of the Java Platform, which allows any program written in Java or other language compiled into Java bytecode to run on any computer that has a native JVM.

Garbage Collector

The automatic detection and freeing of memory that is no longer in use. The Java runtime system performs garbage collection so that programmers never explicitly free objects.

Runtime System

The software environment in which programs compiled for the Java virtual machine* can run. The runtime system includes all the code necessary to load programs written in the Java programming language, dynamically link native methods, manage memory, handle exceptions, and an implementation of the Java virtual machine, which may be a Java interpreter.