The basic terms of Java programming

The notion of Java programming basics has many interpretations. Some tutorials assume the basics to be the same for any object-oriented language. Others discuss syntax and basic language elements and grammar rules. Yet others reduce the basics to the value types, operators, statements, and expressions that allow computations.

Our view of Java basics consists of some elements from each of the earlier approaches. The only criteria for the selection we used were practicality and a gradual increase of complexity. We will start with simple definitions in this section, and then dive deeper into them in the subsequent sections.

Byte code

In the broadest terms, a Java program (or any computer program for that matter) means a sequential set of instructions for a computer, that tell it what to do. Before executing on a computer, a program must be compiled from a human-readable, high-level programming language into a machine-readable binary code.

In the case of Java...