Java Development Kit

Last updated

Java Development Kit
Developer(s) Oracle Corporation
Stable release
21 / 18 April 2023;10 months ago (2023-04-18) [1]
Written inJava, C++, C, Assembly [2]
Operating system Windows, macOS, Linux
Platform aarch64, x86-64
License Oracle No-Fee Terms and Conditions (NFTC) [3] with third party components [4]
Website oracle.com/java/technologies/

The Java Development Kit (JDK) is a distribution of Java technology by Oracle Corporation. It implements the Java Language Specification (JLS) and the Java Virtual Machine Specification (JVMS) and provides the Standard Edition (SE) of the Java Application Programming Interface (API). It is derivative of the community driven OpenJDK which Oracle stewards. [5] It provides software for working with Java applications. Examples of included software are the Java virtual machine, a compiler, performance monitoring tools, a debugger, and other utilities that Oracle considers useful for Java programmers.

Contents

Oracle have released the current version of the software under the Oracle No-Fee Terms and Conditions (NFTC) license. Oracle release binaries for the x86-64 architecture for Windows, macOS, and Linux based operating systems, and for the aarch64 architecture for macOS and Linux. Previous versions have supported the Oracle Solaris operating system and SPARC architecture.

Oracle's primary implementation of the JVMS is known as the HotSpot (virtual machine).

JDK contents

The JDK has as its primary components a collection of programming tools, including:

Experimental tools may not be available in future versions of the JDK.

The JDK also comes with a complete Java Runtime Environment (JRE), usually called a private runtime, due to the fact that it is separated from the "regular" JRE and has extra contents. It consists of a Java virtual machine and all of the class libraries present in the production environment, as well as additional libraries only useful to developers, such as the internationalization libraries and the IDL libraries.

Copies of the JDK also include a wide selection of example programs demonstrating the use of almost all portions of the Java API.

Other JDKs

In addition to the most widely used JDK discussed in this article, there are other JDKs commonly available for a variety of platforms, some of which started from the Sun JDK source and some that did not. All adhere to the basic Java specifications, but often differ in explicitly unspecified areas, such as garbage collection, compilation strategies, and optimization techniques. They include:

In development or in maintenance mode:

Not being maintained or discontinued:

See also

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