History of the development of Java

• Started out in 1991 as Project Green
  • focussed on O/S software for consumer electronic devices
  • James Gosling recognized inadequacy of C++ and initiated development of Oak language
  • Green went through several false starts before dissolving
• Small group decided to adapt Oak (later named Java) to a web technology -- result was a new web browser, WebRunner (later named HotJava), operational in 1994
• Paper on Oak byte codes presented by Gosling at Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI) conference in 1995