Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

Book Image

Introduction to JVM Languages

Overview of this book

Anyone who knows software development knows about the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine is responsible for interpreting Java byte code and translating it into actions. In the beginning, Java was the only programming language used for the JVM. But increasing complexity of the language and the remarkable performance of the JVM created an opening for a new generation of programming languages. If you want to build a strong foundation with the Java Virtual Machine and get started with popular modern programming languages, then this book is for you. The book will begin with a general introduction of the JVM and its features, which are common to the JVM languages, helping you get abreast with its concepts. It will then dive into explaining languages such as Java, Scala, Clojure, Kotlin, and Groovy and will show how to work with each language, their features, use cases, and pros and cons. By writing example projects in those languages and focusing on each language’s strong points, it will help you find the programming language that is most appropriate for your particular needs. By the end of the book, you will have written multiple programs that run on the Java Virtual Machine and know about the differences between the various languages.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Oracle Nashorn


Nashorn is Oracle's open source server-side JavaScript dialect. It has been supplied as part of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) since version 8, meaning that everyone who installed Java 8 (or later) on a mainstream platform (Windows, macOS, and Linux, including Raspberry Pi) has a copy. It replaces Mozilla's Rhino, a JVM JavaScript dialect that was supplied with Oracle's implementation of Java Development Kit (JDK) versions 6 and 7.

Nashorn can be compared with Node.js, the popular server-side JavaScript platform that is powered by Google's V8 JavaScript engine. Both run JavaScript scripts on the server, in contrast to a client-side JavaScript engine that runs inside an internet browser. It's important to realize that Node.js and Nashorn scripts are not compatible with each other. This is because both Node.js and Nashorn add their own unique and incompatible extensions to the ECMAScript language. A big difference between Node.js and Nashorn is that Node.js's built-in asynchronous...