The '''Java''' programming language, developed by Sun Microsystems, is a language aimed at allowing cross-platform application development. It is typically compiled to a intermediate [[bytecode]] language to be executed by the [[Java Virtual Machine]]. Most modern JVMs compile the [[bytecode]] of a Java program into your processors' native machine code during execution. This native code translation is done via a [[Just-In-Time|JIT]] compiler built-in to the JVM.
Java has seen use in a variety environments, including desktop applications, embedded device (PDA and wireless phone) applications, server-side web page serving applications (as [[Java Server Pages|JSP]]) and [[applets]] embedded in web pages. According to a variety of [http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm sources], Java is currently the most popular programming language in the world.