What is Java Used For?

Java is the most popular, widely used object-oriented programming language. The security feature of Java makes it popular and widely used. It used by many Java enthusiasts for different purposes. By using Java, we can develop a variety of applications such as enterprise applications, network applications, desktop applications, web applications, games, android app, and many more. In this section, we will focus on what is Java used for, the applications of Java, and why we use Java.

Applications of Java Programming Language

The expansion of the Java programming language is very wide and it is proved by the statement 3 Billion Devices Runs Java which is shown during the installation of Java. Java provides a rich and wide range of API that helps programmers to develop applications. Using Java, we can develop different applications for different purposes. We can use Java technology to develop the following applications:

Mobile App Development
Desktop GUI Applications
Web-based Applications
Gaming Applications
Big Data Technologies
Distributed Applications
Cloud-based Applications
IoT Applications

Mobile App Development

The Java programming language can be considered as the official language for mobile application development. Most of the android applications build using Java. The most popular android app development IDE Android Studio also uses Java for developing android applications. So, if you are already familiar with Java, it will become much easier to develop android applications. The most popular android applications Spotify and Twitter are developed using Java.

Desktop GUI Applications

We can also develop a GUI application using Java. Java provides AWT, JavaFX, and Swing for developing the GUI based desktop application. The tools contain the pre-assembled components like list, menu, button.

Web-based Applications

It is also used for developing the web-based application because it provides vast support for web development through Servlet, JSP, and Struts. It is the reason that Java is also known as a server-side programming language. Using these technologies, we can develop a variety of applications. The most popular frameworks Spring, Hibernate, Spring Boot, used for developing web-based applications. LinkedIn, AliExpress, web.archive.org, IRCTC, etc. are the popular websites that are written using Java programming language.

Game Development

Java is widely used by game development companies because it has the support of the open-source most powerful 3D engine. The engine provides unparalleled capacity when it comes to the context of the designing of 3D games. The most popular games developed in Java are Minecraft, Mission Impossible III, etc. There are some popular Frameworks and Libraries available for Game Development, like - LibGDX and OpenGL.

Big Data Technology

As many programming languages are available for Big Data Technology but still Java is the first choice for the same. The tool Hadoop HDFS platform for processing and storing big data applications is written in Java. In big data, Java is widely used in ETL applications such as Apache Camel and Apache Kafka. It is used to extract and transform data, and load in big data environments.

Distributed Applications

The JINI (Java Intelligent Networking Infrastructure) provides the infrastructure to register and find distributed services based on its specification. It implements a mechanism that is known as JavaSpaces. It supports the distribution, persistence, and migration of objects in a network.

Cloud-Based Applications

A cloud application is the on-demand availability of IT resources via the internet. The cloud-based application provides the service at a low cost. Java provides the environment to develop cloud-based applications. We can use Java to develop SaaS (Software as a Service), LaaS (Logging as a Service), and PaaS (Platform as a Service). The cloud application widely used to share data between companies or to develop applications remotely.

IoT Application

IoT is a technology that connects the devices in its network and communicates with them. IoT has found almost in all the small devices such as health gears, smartphones, wearables, smart lighting, TVs, etc. For developing the IoT application there is a lot of programming languages that can be used but Java offers an edge to developers that is unparalleled. IoT programmers gravitate towards Java because of its security, flexibility, and versatility.

Why we use Java?

In comparison to other programming languages, Java stands alone for its security and functionality. Java isolates itself from other programming languages because of functionality and security and it is relevant too. There are some other reasons to use Java are as follows:

Scalability: Scalability adds capacity to our system. It improves the capacity of the system by adding the system resources without affecting the deployment architecture. We can achieve scalability by increasing the resources such as RAM and CPU in a single system. It is important because it handles the workload, increases the system performance, and maximizes productivity.
Cross-Platform: Cross-platform means, a compiled Java program can be run on all the platforms. Remember that the system must have JVM. After compiling a Java program, the Java code gets converted into the bytecode which is platform-independent. This bytecode is understood by the JVM. We can run this bytecode on any platform.
Memory-Management: Java provides its own mechanism for managing the memory is known as garbage collection. We need not to care about memory and do not required to implement it to manage the memory. It automatically deletes the objects when they no longer used by the application. It improves the speed of the application.
Multi-threading: Thread is a light-weight subprocess. Multi-threading in Java allows concurrent execution of two or more threads simultaneously. It maximizes the utilization of the CPU.

Top Companies that Use Java

There is a majority of companies such as, Uber, Pinterest, Google, Instagram, Spotify, Netflix, Airbnb, etc. that use Java in their tech stack. We have listed some companies or organizations and their projects. It will help you to decide which programming language you have to choose for the next project.

NASA Word Wind

NASA Word Wind is the project of an independent agency of the U.S. federal government NASA. It is a fully 3D virtual globe that provides geographic information. It uses imagery and aerial photography received from the NASA satellite and builds 3D models of the planets.

It is an open-source proprietary software written in Java and supports all operating systems. In this project, the OpenGL API is used to provide 2D and 3D graphics that interact with the graphics processing unit. It also shows the data in real-time by using the GPS plugin such as displaying clouds, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. Using this application, we can search for locations by geographical names, set visible layers and viewing angles, and much more.

Netflix

Netflix is one of the most popular and largest US entertainment company that provides movies and TV shows on streaming multimedia. Most of the applications of Netflix is developed using Java. With a slight mixture of C++, android and android TV applications are almost build in Java.

Spotify

Spotify is an online audio streaming service that uses Java to implement the functionality of its web application. For example, log and stabilize, and data transfer. The android application of Spotify uses Java.