Java technology (version 2) is both an object-oriented programming language and a platform developed by Sun Microsystems. Java technology is based on the concept of a single Java virtual machine (JVM) -- a translator between the language and the underlying software and hardware. All implementations of the programming language must emulate the JVM, thus enabling Java programs to run on any system that has a version of the JVM.

The Java programming language is unusual because Java programs are both compiled (translated into an intermediate language called Java bytecodes) and interpreted (bytecodes parsed and run by the JVM). Compilation occurs once, while interpretation happens each time the program is run. Compiled bytecode is a form of optimized machine code for the JVM; the interpreter is an implementation of the JVM.