Since its launch in 1995, Java has consistently remained one of the most popular and commonly-used programming languages
In fact, Java currently sits at #3 in the Tiobe Index, which ranks languages on their popularity amongst developers– which is quite an impressive feat when you consider how much technology has progressed since it was released!
One of the key reasons Java is still used by software development companies is how versatile it is, allowing them to make a huge range of robust, performant applications that perfectly match their project specifications. The flexibility of these programming languages along with stability and security makes the demand of Java developers to hire increase every year. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the types of projects you can develop with Java.
Now, before we get into the type of projects you can develop using Java, let’s look at why you should use Java to develop your software project in the first place. Here are the main advantages of Java that surely many Java developers could mark out.
First and foremost, Java is an object-oriented programming (OOP) language. This allows Java developers to arrange the data in a project into “objects” that interact with each other. This then allows the developers to split applications into modules of code, which are both easier to update and reuse.
It’s well-known that Java is less complicated to get to grips with, compared to programming languages like C++ and C. This will result in less development time, which allows you to develop applications more cost-effectively. Java allows you to build an MVP of your desired application quickly, so you can test the concept, get a better idea of the functionality you want from, and streamline your project’s lifecycle. Better still, its simplicity means that Java developers produce elegant, well-organized code – which will make future updates easier and more economical.
Another huge advantage that Java brings to your software project is platform independence. This is because when a Java program compiles, it generates bytecode that’s executed by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) which can run on any computer, regardless of its operating system (OS)
This means that you can use Java to develop applications with cross-platform functionality, saving your company the extra time and cost of developing your application for multiple platforms.
Java has several characteristics that make it scalable, such as its modular code design (objects), automatic garbage collection, static type checking, and the fact it doesn’t allow direct access to memory, like other programming languages. This makes it easier to develop Java applications that can grow seamlessly as more users are added to it.
Java has strong exception-handling capabilities that allow it to deal with a large range of errors without breaking the application, which makes it particularly stable among programming languages. Similarly, the bytecode that’s produced when Java code is compiled can’t be manipulated because it runs within the JVM, which adds to its security. Better still, whenever there’s a new security update for the JVM, the machine on which it's installed will automatically download and apply it, keeping it safe against any emerging threats.
All of the above benefits have resulted in Java amassing a massive community of developers over its 25-year lifespan. Consequently, with so many people using Java to write applications, there’s also a huge selection of libraries and frameworks to draw from, which allows Java developers to create impressive apps in less time.
Now, let’s look at some of the types of projects that Java is particularly well suited for.
Java is a great programming language for developing a wide range of web applications for several reasons. Firstly, there are a number of excellent frameworks, such as Spring, Struts, and Hibernate, for example, that are ideal for developing web applications with Java. They enable Java developers to create high-performing, secure web applications on time and within budget. That is why Java developers outsourcing is especially popular in this type of venture.
Secondly, Java’s platform independence allows developers to build a single web application that can run on any system. This is why Java is known as a WORA (write once, run anywhere) language – as it saves you the effort and expense of developing multiple versions of your application. On a similar note, Java’s cross-platform capabilities, along with its scalability and stability makes it a great language for developing cloud-based applications.
Famous web applications (at least partly) written in Java include Netflix, Uber, Twitter, LinkedIn and Spotify. Plus, Minecraft – the best-selling game of all time, is written in Java too!
In addition to cloud-based applications, Java can also be used to develop distributed applications . These are particularly useful if your business is spread across several geographic locations, as you can set up separate clusters in each region for more performant applications. The modular code that Java allows developers to create is ideal for distributed apps as it’s easy to debug, maintain, and update.
Java is the official language of Android development, making it one of, if not the most, important programming language when it comes to app development . Furthermore, if you’re looking to develop a mobile app for commercial release, then Android is the best choice – especially when you consider that Android phones currently have 70% of the global market share for mobile devices.
Also, Android is, and always has been, an open-source system. This is advantageous because it allows Android’s development community to create new tools, libraries, and frameworks which further assist others in the development of Android apps. This allows Java developers to build fast, secure apps in less time because they don’t have to write as much of the code from scratch.
The use of Big Data has skyrocketed in the last few years and is only going to continue. Fortunately, if you need to develop a project that processes large amounts of data, that happens to be another function that Java is particularly well-suited for. For a start, Java’s speed, reusability, flexibility and reliability make it very suitable for the ETL (extract, transform, and load) processes required in Big Data. As a result, Apache Hadoop, an open-source framework specifically designed for use with Big Data applications, is written in Java. Similarly, Apache Kafka, which was developed by LinkedIn and is by the likes of PayPal, New York Times, Pinterest and an incredible 60% of Fortune 100 companies.
As Big Data and data science often go hand in hand, it’s unsurprising that Java is suitable for a wide range of data science projects. While Java’s speed and stability is a big factor in this, its cross-platform capabilities mean that Java developers can write complex data analysis or machine learning software that can run on any platform. Even better still, Java has a selection of well-known and highly-regarded libraries specifically created for developing machine learning applications, such as Deeplearning4j, Spark Milab, Weka, and Mahout.
As we’ve explored in this post, Java can be used to create a huge range of applications of varying size or complexity. Its simplicity, scalability, security, and a huge library of existing tools make Java developers ’ lives easier – allowing them to develop powerful applications faster and more cost-effectively. What is more, the many uses of this programming language make Java developers outsourcing even more popular move for companies. If you have an idea for a project you want to implement or are looking for a software development partner, let's get in touch and we’d be thrilled to talk it over with you in a free consultation.
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