The first version of the Java programming language was developed by James Gosling and his team at Sun Microsystems, officially released in 1995. Java was designed to be platform-independent, allowing developers to "write once, run anywhere" due to its use of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Its features, such as object-oriented principles, automatic memory management, and strong security, contributed to its widespread adoption across various applications, from enterprise-level software to mobile apps. Today, Java remains one of the most popular programming languages in the world.