Why is Java the Main Language for Enterprise Development?

From web to mobile, IoT devices to servers, Java appears to be one of the most universal and widely used programming languages for both small applications and end-to-end enterprise solutions. Java official page states: ‘Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to data centers, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!’  When it comes to enterprise software development Java keeps the leading role and here is why:

According to the research by Cloud Foundry Foundation, Java is used in 58% of the enterprises represented by the 601 respondents, and JavaScript is used in 57%. C++ is used in 46% of companies. C# took fourth place (26%) followed by Python (25%).

The surveyed IT decision-makers mentioned over 25 languages but many of those languages fell into the single-digit percentage for use. Overall, larger enterprises tend to use more than one language, but Java stood out in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Why is Java So Popular?

Usually, its global recognition is explained by three main reasons: agility, reliability and a tremendous experience gathered by programmers whose most lines of code have been written in Java during the last quarter-century. The ability of this programming language to keep updated with the modern world and respond quickly to change is unprecedented. The latter also helps to make the best of modern trends. What’s interesting is that, presumably, all these facts still resonate with the promise made by Sun Microsystems, back in 1996 ¾ WORA, or ‘Write Once, Run Anywhere’.

Choosing the main programming language (especially for enterprise development) might be challenging. What’s more, even for some experienced programmers it may be challenging to decide whatever language to choose as each of them has its own niche and ‘its own path’. For sure, there are a lot of debates about using Java and its actual ability to meet the needs of a modern software development requirements.

Reasons to Choose Java for Enterprise Application Development

So why is Java so widespread among developers and how does it cope with the intense competition on the enterprise solutions market?

One of the Pioneering Languages

It happens primarily because Java was unveiled in the early 90s when the whole enterprise development actually overtook others. Literally, it was used as an improved version of C++. However, now we’ve got other languages that could be, probably, equal or even better, but the fact that Java has been a language of enterprise development for years works as a strong argument. Thus, it comes forward as the default programming language for the vast majority of enterprises offering flexible integration and independent code.

Scalable Infrastructure & Reliability

Secondly, to provide both successful and prolific enterprise-scale development, there is a necessity of sufficient performance to manage enterprise-scale workloads. Minding that things may get hairy when it comes to business logic, Java is appeared to be an all-round universal solution. Of special interest is the fact that libraries are the basic structural units of any enterprise solution. Yet there are heaps of other programming languages, it is able to tick the box on an issue way quicker and better.

And here comes the third reason which is tightly bound up with the previous one. Java owns a bunch of proven tools, frameworks, and libraries that potentially can handle any requirement.

JVM & Cross-platform Compatibility

Finally, thanks to the existence of Java Virtual Machine (JVM) all applications written in Java are supported by almost all existing platforms including Mac OS, Unix, and Windows. It can run on any device with modern processors. One of JVM’s upside is the ability to ‘jungle’ various threads. JVM is optimized to be used on huge multi-core machines so far managing hundreds of them at once. Just because of this, other programming languages, cross compilers, and emulators have appeared there. This programming language supports lots of hardware devices and even smaller segments can implement it into their business processes.

Enterprise Java Applications

Many retailers, insurance companies, fintech companies and banks, manufacturers use Java for their business app development. It is a handy language for both web and mobile application development as the Android platform is driven by Java. Actually, such well-known and highly-used websites like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Netflix, Tinder, Google Earth, Uber and others use Java as one of the back-end (server-side) languages.

Global investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Barclays, Standard Charted use Java for the front and back offices of  their e-commerce systems, settlement and transaction confirmation systems, data processing, etc.

Java is also used for blockchain app development as well as cryptocurrency app development. It is used for  Blockchain programming of Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, IOTA, NEO, etc.

It is also widely utilized in for enterprise e-commerce systems development like PIM, BPM, ERP, SCM, HRM, etc.

Bottom line

There are multiple programming languages available for enterprise software development. Despite the many technological advancements, Java has sustained in the software development industry for years. It is so versatile and offers robust custom solutions for almost all types of commercial needs. It takes leading positions in various rankings and shows no signs of decline.

While many other technologies are emerging around us, Java stays strong. If you are looking  for enterprise software development services and a team of experienced Java developers will be glad to provide you with a competitive edge.