Java (programming language)
Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers write once, run anywhere (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need to recompile. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of the underlying computer architecture. The syntax of Java is similar to C and C++, but has fewer low-level facilities than either of them. The Java runtime provides dynamic capabilities that are typically not available in traditional compiled languages.
James Gosling, the creator of Java, in 2008
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs.
Two people using an IBM 704 mainframe—the first hardware to support floating-point arithmetic—in 1957. Fortran was designed for this machine.
A small selection of programming language textbooks