Java

In depth

Programming language

Strongly typed, object-oriented language that runs on the JVM. A favourite for enterprise backend systems.

Java, explained

Written by EduVerse

Java is a statically typed, object-oriented language. Your code is compiled to bytecode that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), so the same build runs on any operating system with a JVM installed. It comes with a large standard library and a garbage collector that manages memory for you.

Why teams use it

Banks, insurers, governments and online stores run large backends in Java because it is stable, fast enough, and backed by mature tools like Spring Boot, Maven and IntelliJ. It is more verbose than Python or Kotlin, but that explicitness helps when hundreds of developers work on the same code for years.

An example from work

You clone your team’s order service and see a pom.xml at the root with src/main/java underneath. You run mvn clean install, wait for the tests, and the first real error you meet is a NullPointerException with a stack trace pointing to line 87 of OrderService.java.

Our own explanation, not a quote from the book.

In the book

Sentences from The Software Realm, Decoded that mention Java, exactly as printed.

Senior developer
“High-level languages like Python, JavaScript, and Java have ’automatic transmissions’, they manage memory for you.”
Chapter 2 · 2.2 The Languages Ecosystem: Choosing Your Tools · pp. 48–49Open in the free preview

5 more passages about Java in the full book

Read every conversation where Java comes up, with the interactive slides and demos.

See the book

Where it fits

Enterprise backends, Android (legacy), large distributed systems

Coverage in the book