Java API

The Java API is an extensive collection of library routines (written in the Java programming language or in native code) that perform basic tasks such as GUI display and manipulation, sorting and countless others.

Sun has defined 3 platforms targetting different application environments and segmented its APIs so that they belong to one of the platforms. The platforms are:

• Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition - targeting envionments with limited resources
• Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition - targeting workstation environments
• Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition - targeting large distributed enterprise or internet environments.

Comparisons with Other Languages

See Comparisons of Java to C++

Legal Issues

In the corporate programming culture, legal issues surrounding Intellectual Property often complicate technical issues. This fact of life is especially apparent with regard to the Java API.

For example, the Swing API often imitates the underlying native platform's GUI, using perfectly cross-platform code. This way, users (ideally) feel comfortable and unaware they're working on a non-native platform, without Sun needing to pollute Swing with native code. However, the native system's copyright or trademark owner may demand that the look be implemented in terms of the underlying native widgets, as in the case of the Aqua look and feel in Apple's Mac OS X. Apple considers Aqua to be a competitive advantage, and desires the look and feel to be confined to their operating system.