Java Was Named After a Cup of Coffee
Abstract
Java, the programming language that runs on billions of devices, was named after coffee. Specifically, after Java coffee, a variety grown on the Indonesian island of Java, the kind the development team drank during late-night sessions. The language was first called “Oak,” after a tree outside James Gosling’s office, and “Greentalk” was an early alternative named after Sun’s “Green Project.” Oak could not be trademarked, and the final name came out of brainstorming sessions in early 1995.
From Oak to Java
James Gosling began designing the language in 1991 at Sun Microsystems as part of the “Green Project,” an initiative to write software for consumer electronics. He named his early language “Oak” after the oak tree he could see through his office window. The language was meant to run on many kinds of hardware, so portability was a design goal from the start.
When the team tried to trademark “Oak,” Sun’s lawyers found that Oak Technologies, a semiconductor company, already held the name. The team reconvened. They needed a new name.
Their candidate list included “Silk,” “DNA,” “Ruby,” and “Java.” After the trademark search left Java, DNA, and Silk, the team ranked the three, and Java won. Chris Warth later recalled: “It definitely was Peet’s Java we were drinking.” The language was officially announced as Java in 1995. Sun’s logo for the language was a steaming coffee cup, which remains Java’s symbol today.
What the Name Doesn’t Mean
“Java” has no technical meaning in the context of programming and is not an acronym. Its only link to the Indonesian island is the coffee, which the logo’s steaming cup still shows.
Sun’s slogan for the platform was “write once, run anywhere.” By the mid-2000s, Java ran on mobile phones, Blu-ray players, and a large share of enterprise servers. Developers fighting with incompatible virtual machines turned the slogan into “write once, debug everywhere.”