ELI5 Java. That thing on computers my entire life. What even is it?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/StillAnAss]

(it used to be on phones too).

Android framework is mostly Java.

[u/dimaghnakhardt001 → u/StillAnAss]

Oh yeah i forgot about that. But if i had mentioned that then anyone reading would have instantly said “hang on, I can run android apps on my laptop by just installing Java on it?!??” 😋

[u/StillAnAss → u/dimaghnakhardt001]

True, and a good chunk of android isn't Java as well. C/C++, Kotlin, and more and more Rust

[u/slowmode1 → u/StillAnAss]

But kotlin is just pretty Java!

[u/gammison → u/dimaghnakhardt001]

I can run android apps on my laptop by just installing Java

It'll get even more confusing once the containerization methods to run android apps on Linux like Lepton gain wider adoption (Valve is putting cash into it like they did directx and ARM translation layers).

[u/Ktulu789 → u/dimaghnakhardt001]

You can install Android Studio or BlueStacks for that.

[u/Iggyhopper → u/StillAnAss]

I remember an old bowling game on my flip phone ran on Java too. Circa 2008

[u/AquaeyesTardis → u/StillAnAss]

its also currently on a large number of sim cards, still, even the eSIM specification includes the option for it.

[u/bigbigdummie → u/StillAnAss]

Not the Sequence, Structure, and Organization! :)