Java is a high-level computer programming language originally developed by Sun Microsystems and released in 1995. Java runs on a different of platforms, such as Windows, Mac OS, and UNIX.

• Java is a programming language and a platform.
• Java is a high level, robust, secured and object-oriented programming language.

Platform: Any hardware or software environment in which a program runs, is known as a platform. Since Java has its own runtime environment (JRE) and API, it is called platform.