JDK in Java
Categories: Java 8(JDK1.8)
The Java Development Kit (JDK) is a cross-platformed software development environment that offers a collection of tools and libraries necessary for developing Java-based software applications and applets. It is a core package used in Java, along with the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and the JRE (Java Runtime Environment). Beginners often get confused with JRE and JDK, if you are only interested in running Java programs on your machine then you can easily do it using Java Runtime Environment. However, if you would like to develop a Java-based software application then along with JRE you may need some additional necessary tools, which is called JDK.
The Java Development Kit is an implementation of one of the Java Platform:
1. Standard Edition (Java SE),
2. Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE),
3. Micro Edition (Java ME),
Contents of JDK
The JDK has a private Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and a few other resources necessary for the development of a Java Application.
JDK contains:
1. Java Runtime Environment (JRE),
2. An interpreter/loader (Java),
3. A compiler (javac),
An archiver (jar) and many more.
The Java Runtime Environment in JDK is usually called Private Runtime because it is separated from the regular JRE and has extra contents. The Private Runtime in JDK contains a JVM and all the class libraries present in the production environment, as well as additional libraries useful to developers, e.g, internationalization libraries and the IDL libraries.