Java _ Definition & Facts _ Britannica.pdf

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By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History
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Java, modern object-oriented computer programming language.
Java was created at Sun Microsystems, Inc., where James Gosling led a team of
researchers in an effort to create a new language that would allow consumer
electronic devices to communicate with each other. Work on the language began in
1991, and before long the team’s focus changed to a new niche, the World Wide Web.
Java was first released in 1995, and Java’s ability to provide interactivity and
multimedia showed that it was particularly well suited for the Web.
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The difference between the way Java and other programming languages worked was
revolutionary Code in other languages is first translated by a compiler into
Key People: Bill Joy
Related Topics: computer programming language
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revolutionary. Code in other languages is first translated by a compiler into
instructions for a specific type of computer. The Java compiler instead turns code
into something called Bytecode, which is then interpreted by software called the Java
Runtime Environment (JRE), or the Java virtual machine. The JRE acts as a virtual
computer that interprets Bytecode and translates it for the host computer. Because
of this, Java code can be written the same way for many platforms (“write once, run
anywhere”), which helped lead to its popularity for use on the Internet, where many
different types of computers may retrieve the same Web page.
By the late 1990s Java had brought multimedia to the Internet and started to grow
beyond the Web, powering consumer devices (such as cellular telephones), retail and
financial computers, and even the onboard computer of NASA’s Mars exploration
rovers. Because of this popularity, Sun created different varieties of Java for different
purposes, including Java SE for home computers, Java ME for embedded devices,
and Java EE for Internet servers and supercomputers. In 2010 the Oracle
Corporation took over the management of Java when it acquired Sun Microsystems.
Despite the similarity in names, the JavaScript language that was designed to run in
Web browsers is not part of Java. JavaScript was developed in 1995 at Netscape
Communications Corp. and was conceived of as a companion to Java. It was
originally called Mocha and then LiveScript before Netscape received a marketing
license from Sun.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.
Netscape Communications Corp.
American company
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Alternate titles: Mosaic Communications Corp.
By Henry R. Norr • Edit History
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Netscape Communications Corp. , American developer of Internet software
with headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Founding as Mosaic Communications
The company was founded in April 1994 as Mosaic Communications Corp. by James
H Cl k d M A d Cl k h d i l f d d d b h i f
Netscape Communications Corp.
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Date: April 1994 - present
Headquarters: Mountain View
Areas Of Involvement: computer programming language • graphical user interface • Internet service
provider • Java • software ...(Show more)
Related People: Marc Andreessen

H. Clark and Marc Andreessen. Clark had previously founded and been chairman of
Silicon Graphics, Inc., a manufacturer of computer workstations. Andreessen, then
22, was a recent graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; there,
while employed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in
1993, he had led the development of NCSA Mosaic, the first widely distributed, easy-
to-use software for browsing the World Wide Web.
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Just as Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.), and Microsoft Corporation
popularized computing by replacing DOS (disk operating system) line commands
with a graphical user interface on personal computers, and parallel with America
Online, Inc., and CompuServe Interactive Services, Inc.’s development of graphical
interfaces for their proprietary networks, Mosaic offered a graphical interface to
replace UNIX OS line commands over the Internet. With the ability to display
colourful graphics and a simple point-and-click interface for finding, viewing, and
downloading data over the Web, the free Mosaic software made the Internet widely
accessible for the first time beyond the scientific branches of academia and the
government where it started.
Navigator takes over the Internet
Clark and Andreessen planned to further this popularization process and to
capitalize on it by marketing a commercial-quality Web browser, Web-server
software, development tools, and related services. In October 1994 the company
made available on its Web site the first version of Navigator, their new browser. By
utilizing the shareware distribution model of “try before you buy” (except in

education, where the program was free), Navigator was an immediate success: over
the following 12 months some eight million copies were downloaded. Because
Navigator connected to Netscape’s Web site by default (and later because of various
services offered by the company), netscape.com became one of the busiest sites on
the Web. From an average of approximately 1 million hits per day in February 1995,
traffic rose to more than 125 million hits per day by November 1997. The browser
was followed by several Web-server applications, including pioneering programs for
electronic commerce and security.
The company’s rise to prominence triggered a dispute with the University of Illinois,
which had trademarked the Mosaic name and designated another company as
master licensee for the NCSA Mosaic software. As part of an out-of-court settlement,
Mosaic Communications changed its name to Netscape Communications.
Money pours in
In January 1995 the company recruited James L. Barksdale, an executive
experienced with raising capital for new companies in the telecommunications and
overnight-delivery industries, to be its president and chief executive officer. (See
photograph of Barksdale, Andreessen, and Clark.) In August 1995 Netscape’s initial
public stock offering created a sensation in financial circles: in its first day of trading,
the 16-month-old company’s shares more than doubled, giving it a market
capitalization of $2.2 billion. The proceeds helped to fund a series of acquisitions of
smaller developers, as well as joint ventures with such prominent technology
companies as Oracle Corporation, General Electric Co., and Novell, Inc.
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Browser enhancements
Meanwhile, Netscape continued to extend its line of server applications and to roll
out Navigator upgrades, adding features such as electronic mail (E-mail) and news.
In addition, Netscape added a plug-in interface, allowing other developers to create
modules that expanded Navigator’s capabilities; this “open-architecture” approach
led in particular to a proliferation of plug-ins for digital audio, video, and animation.
N h fi li f S Mi I ’ J

Netscape was among the first licensees of Sun Microsystems, Inc.’s Java
programming language and virtual-machine technology. Sun and Netscape also
collaborated to define JavaScript, a separate language designed to help
nonprogrammers create dynamic, interactive Web sites.
These rapid-fire advances pushed Netscape to the forefront of the software world.
Web developers scrambled to implement its latest innovations; users raced to
download each new release of its browser. Leading computer manufacturers and
Internet service providers (ISPs) rushed to conclude agreements, allowing them to
bundle Navigator with their products. By June 1996 Netscape claimed that more
than 38 million people were using Navigator, making it the most popular personal-
computer application ever.
Moreover, Netscape’s innovations were transforming its browser from a simple
application into a platform on which other developers could build. Observers began
to suggest that the browser could become computing’s dominant user interface and
development framework. Since this analysis implied a reduction in the
distinctiveness and importance of operating systems, Netscape’s meteoric ascent was
widely seen as a challenge to Microsoft, whose control of DOS and Windows OS had
made it the dominant force in personal computing.
Browser competition and the search for a business
model
In the fall of 1995, Microsoft began an urgent campaign to turn toward the Internet.
It started by licensing the browser code that Andreessen and his NCSA associates
had written while students, and it feverishly developed Internet Explorer, a browser
that gradually caught up with Navigator in features and performance. Microsoft kept
Explorer completely free, even for business customers, and moved aggressively to
persuade computer makers and ISPs to bundle it instead of Navigator. By 1996
Microsoft was bundling Explorer with Windows OS, and they had begun the process
of integrating Explorer directly into Windows.
As a result, Netscape’s market share among browser users, previously estimated at
over 80 percent, began to decline. In response, Netscape accused Microsoft of unfair
business practices and filed a series of complaints with regulatory bodies; these
efforts helped to persuade the U.S. Department of Justice to undertake a broad
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investigation of Microsoft under antitrust statutes.
Netscape also placed a greater emphasis on sales of server applications and
corporate services, and it released a new product, Communicator, which combined
the Navigator browser with workgroup-collaboration features designed to appeal to
corporate customers. Another initiative was the creation of Netcenter, an
information and commerce service built around its heavily trafficked Web site.
In all these areas, however, Netscape faced entrenched competitors. In early 1998 it
reported slowing growth and its first quarterly operating loss ever. In an effort to
regain market momentum, it declared Navigator and Communicator completely free
and even made the programs’ source code available to other developers for
customizing and enhancement.
Netscape was purchased by America Online, Inc. (AOL), in November 1998. With
the increasing competition from Mozilla Firefox, the open-source browser developed
from Navigator, and the continuing market dominance of Explorer, AOL
discontinued support for Navigator in 2008.
Henry R. Norr

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