Java is an object-oriented programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems. It was released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. Oracle currently develops the language and JVM for Windows, Solaris, Linux and Mac OS X.

Java can run on most popular operating systems as it compiles code into platform independent, low-level byte-code via the Java Virtual Machine that (which is platform specific) translates this byte-code into native instructions.

Java is the programming language in which RuneScape's game engine is mostly written though it should not be confused with RuneScript, the scripting language that Jagex uses to create new content for RuneScape.

Effects on the gameEdit

Though not exclusive to the language, there are a number of technical limitations of Java which are present in the game.

MaximumsEdit

The most prominent effect of Java's data types is the maximum limit of a 32-bit signed integer. RuneScape stores the number of items using an int type variable and thus there can be no more than 2,147,483,647 (2³¹-1) items in a single stack.

Consequently, this is the maximum amount of coins (and indeed any other stackable item) that can be stored in a stack. If a player attempts to withdraw or pick up coins while carrying the maximum amount of coins, it is stated that there is not enough inventory space.

NullEdit

Main article: Null

All items, monsters, etc are objects; i.e. they are an instance of some class. When an object is declared, it is usually created as a new instance of whatever class to which it belongs and the variable points to its newly created memory address. When nothing is after the declaration, however, the object points to null. Nulls can exist when there is an error in RuneScape's code, but more often it means there is a problem fetching data from the server.

	Item obj1 = new Item();
	Item obj2;

In this mock up code, both obj1 and obj2 are declared, but only obj1 is instantiated as an Item. On the other hand, obj2 is not instantiated at all; it points to null.

External linksEdit

Wikipedia has an article about:

Java

• Java developers center

TriviaEdit

• Java supplies the first two letters in the acronym Jagex (Java Gaming Experts).