Why Java?

Java is, as it has been for over a decade, the most popular programming language in the world. And its popularity is growing. There are several good reasons for this:

Python may be easier to learn, R may be simpler to run, JavaScript may be easier for developing websites, and C/C++ may be faster, but for general purpose programming, Java can't be beat.

Java was developed in 1995 by a team led by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems. In 2010, the Oracle Corporation bought Sun for $7.4 B and has supported Java since then. The current version is Java 8, released in 2014. But by the time you buy this book, Java 9 should be available; it is scheduled to be released in late 2017.

As the title of this book suggests, we will be using Java in all our examples.