Java

Java is a reflective, object-oriented programming language developed initially by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems. Initially called Oak, it was intended to replace C++, although the feature set better resembles that of Objective-C. Java should not be confused with JavaScript, which shares only the name and a similar C-like syntax. Sun Microsystems currently maintains and updates Java regularly.

Specifications of the Java language, the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and the Java API are community-maintained through the Sun-managed Java Community Process. Java was developed in 1991 by James Gosling and other Sun engineers, as part of the Green Project. After first being made public in 1994, it achieved prominence following the announcement at 1995's SunWorld that Netscape would be including support for it in their Navigator browser.

Language characteristics

• Object orientation
• Platform independence
• Automatic garbage collection

Java roguelikes

Java gives excellent abilities for roguelike development, due to object orientation and platform independence, but still has some disadvantages:

• Lower perfomance
• Bad console support. Developers of ASCII roguelikes must use one of existing libraries(jcurses, charva, etc.), or develop the new one (e.g. using the curses C library and native methods).

Although, there are some Java roguelikes:

• JADE (in progress)
• Tyrant

Related links

"Java programming language" (Wikipedia article)