Java is an object-oriented programming language developed initially by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems. It was intended to replace C++, although the feature set better resembles that of Objective-C. Sun Microsystems currently maintains and updates Java regularly. Specifications of the Java language, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and the Java API are community-maintained through the Sun-managed Java Community Process. Java was developed in 1991 by Gosling and other Sun engineers, as part of the Green Project. After first being made public in 1994, it achieved prominence following the announcement at 1995's SunWorld that Netscape would be including support for it in their Navigator browser.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1843: A Christmas Carol, a fictional novella about Ebenezer Scrooge, was first published by Charles Dickens (pictured). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol)

1862: American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Order_No._11)

1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright aboard the Wright Flyer conducted the first successful flight of a powered fixed-wing aircraft. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers)

1944: Malmédy massacre: Waffen-SS troops under Joachim Peiper shot at about 150 unarmed prisoners of war with machine guns near Malmedy, Belgium. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malm%C3%A9dy_massacre)

1989: The Simpsons made their debut as an animated series on the Fox television network. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach." -- Charles Dickens (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens)