History of Java

James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton initiated the Java language project in June 1991. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it was too advanced for the digital cable television industry at the time. The language was initially called 'Oak' after an oak tree that stood outside Gosling's office; it went by the name 'Green' later, and was later renamed 'Java', from Java coffee, said to be consumed in large quantities by the language's creators. Gosling aimed to implement a virtual machine and a language that had a familiar C/C++ style of notation.

Major release versions of Java, along with their release dates:

• JDK 1.0 (January 21, 1996)
• JDK 1.1 (February 19, 1997)
• J2SE 1.2 (December 8, 1998)
• J2SE 1.3 (May 8, 2000)
• J2SE 1.4 (February 6, 2002)
• J2SE 5.0 (September 30, 2004)
• Java SE 6 (December 11, 2006)
• Java SE 7 (July 28, 2011)