The only language that can challenge C++’s dominance in the industry is Java, and for good reason. Java is similar to C++ in many ways in terms of its object-oriented approach and huge community of third-party applications and platforms. However, the main reason for using Java as the de facto programming language in the industry is its high portability.
Programs written in Java are portable across any computing device because they do not depend on a specific system architecture, but use a universal JVM (Java Virtual Machine) to execute them. This makes Java one of the best programming languages for blockchain.
Features of the Java language
Java is a general-purpose programming language. It belongs to object-oriented programming languages, to languages with strong typing.
The creators implemented the WORA principle: write once, run anywhere. It means that an application written in Java can be run on any platform if Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed on it.
This task is solved by compiling Java code into bytecode. This format is executed by JVM or Java Virtual Machine. JVM is a part of Java Runtime Environment (JRE). The virtual machine is platform independent.
Java implements a memory management mechanism called garbage collector. The developer creates objects and the JRE clears memory with the help of garbage collector when the objects are no longer used. Expert Nikita Lipsky explains: “There is such a thing as cyclic garbage. There are references to all objects inside the loop, but the garbage collector in Java will remove it if the objects cannot be used from the program.
As noted above, Java syntax is similar to that of other C-like languages. Here are some of its features:
case sensitivity – user and user identifiers in Java are different entities;
lowerCamelCase is used for naming methods. If the method name consists of one word, it must begin with a lowercase letter. Example: firstMethodName();
UpperCamelCase is used for naming classes. If the name consists of one word, it must begin with a capital letter. Example: FirstClassName.
The name of the program files must exactly match the name of the class taking into account case sensitivity. For example, if the class is called FirstClassName, the file should be called FirstClassName.java;
identifiers always start with a letter (A-Z, a-z), $ sign or underscore _;