Java

Java is a general-purpose, high-level, object-oriented programming language developed in 1995 by Sun Microsystems (purchased by Oracle in 2010). One of the principal design goals for Java was a high degree of portability across platforms, summarized by the slogan write once, run anywhere, and which is realized by having Java source code compiled to 'byte code' which then runs inside a Java virtual machine (JVM), ensuring a very uniform environment across numerous architectures and platforms. This has made Java a popular language choice in some environments and it is also widely used as a language for teaching programming. While performance was not one of the original design goals for Java, there are ways to help Java code run quickly and it has enjoyed a certain popularity in some scientific domains such as the life sciences, e.g. software like the Broad Insitute's GATK.