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{{Short description|Canadian computer scientist (born 1955)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = James Gosling
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|size=100%}}
| image             = James Gosling 2008.jpg
| alt               = 
| caption           = Gosling in 2008
| birth_name        = James Arthur Gosling
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1955|05|19}}
| birth_place       = [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]], Canada
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| workplaces        = {{plainlist|
* [[Sun Microsystems]]
* [[Oracle Corporation]]
* [[Google]]
* [[Liquid Robotics]]<ref name="nighthacks1">[http://nighthacks.com/jag/blog/373/index.html I've moved again : On a New Road]. Nighthacks.com. Retrieved on 2016-05-17.</ref>
* [[Amazon Web Services]]
}}
| alma_mater        = {{ubl|
* [[University of Calgary]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Science|BSc]])}}
* [[Carnegie Mellon University]] {{small|([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
}}
| thesis_title      = Algebraic Constraints
| thesis_url        = http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/scan/CMU-CS-83-132.pdf
| thesis_year       = 1983
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Bob Sproull]] and [[Raj Reddy]]<ref name="mathgene">{{MathGenealogy|id=50143}}</ref>
| known_for         = [[Java (programming language)]] [[Gosling Emacs]]
| awards            = Officer of the [[Order of Canada]] 
IEEE John von Neumann Medal
The Economist Innovation Award
NAE Foreign Member
Fellow [[Computer History Museum]]
| children          = 2
}}

'''James Arthur Gosling''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (born 19 May 1955) is a Canadian [[computer scientist]], best known as the founder and lead designer behind the [[Java (programming language)|Java programming language]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/1793/james-gosling/|title=James Gosling - Computing History|website=Computinghistory.org.uk|access-date=2017-10-09}}</ref>

Gosling was elected a member of the [[National Academy of Engineering]] in 2004 for the conception and development of the architecture for the Java programming language and for contributions to [[windowing system]]s.

== Early life ==
Gosling was born in [[Calgary|Calgary, Alberta]], to Joyce Morrison and Dave Gosling. He is of English, Welsh, Scottish, and Icelandic descent. Gosling attended [[William Aberhart High School]]. While in high school, he wrote some of the software to analyze data from the [[ISIS (satellite)|ISIS 2]] satellite, working for the [[University of Calgary]] physics department.<ref>{{Cite interview |last=Gosling |first=James |interviewer1=Hansen Hsu |interviewer2=Marc Weber |title=Oral History of James Gosling, part 1 of 2 |url=https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2019/10/102781080-05-01-acc.pdf |date=March 15, 2019 |pages=19-24}}</ref> He received a [[Bachelor of Science]] from the University of Calgary<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nighthacks.com/roller/jag/resource/bio.html |title=academic-conference-style bio of James Gosling |access-date=2015-05-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601031152/http://nighthacks.com/roller/jag/resource/bio.html |archive-date=2015-06-01 }}</ref> and his M.A. and Ph.D. from [[Carnegie Mellon University]], all in [[computer science]].<ref name="mathgene"/><ref name="goslingphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=James|last=Gosling |title=Algebraic Constraints |publisher=Carnegie Mellon University |date=1983 |author-link=James Gosling|id={{ProQuest|303133100}}}}</ref><ref>[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~alumni/advisor.html#G Phd Awards By Advisor]. Cs.cmu.edu. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.</ref> He wrote a version of [[Emacs]] called [[Gosling Emacs]] (Gosmacs) while working toward his doctorate. He built a multi-processor version of Unix for a 16-way computer system<ref>James Gosling mentioned a multiprocessor Unix in his statement during the [[United States v. Microsoft|US vs Microsoft Antitrust DOJ trial]] in 1998 {{cite web
 |url = http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f2000/2049.htm
 |title = DOJ/Antitrust
 |work = Statement in MS Antitrust case
 |publisher = US DOJ
 |access-date = 1 February 2007
}}</ref> while at Carnegie Mellon University, before joining [[Sun Microsystems]].

==Career and contributions==
Gosling joined Sun Microsystems in 1984, where he worked for the next 26 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yadav |first=Sid |date=2011-03-28 |title=Google hires Java founder James Gosling |url=https://venturebeat.com/business/google-hires-java-founder-james-gosling/ |access-date=2025-07-09 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}</ref> At Sun he invented an early Unix windowing system called [[NeWS]], which became a lesser-used alternative to the still used [[X Window System]], because Sun did not give it an open source license.{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}

He is known as the father of the [[Java programming language]].<ref name="LeavesSun" /><ref name="joinGoogle" /> He got the idea for the [[Java virtual machine|Java VM]] while writing a program to port software from a [[PERQ]] by translating Perq Q-Code to VAX assembler and emulating the hardware. He is generally credited with having invented the [[Java (programming language)|Java]] programming language in 1994.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Allman | first1 = E. | title = Interview: A Conversation with James Gosling| doi = 10.1145/1016998.1017013 | journal = ACM Queue | volume = 2 | issue = 5 | pages = 24 | year = 2004 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gosling | first1 = J. | author-link = James Gosling| title = The feel of Java | doi = 10.1109/2.587548 | journal = Computer | volume = 30 | issue = 6 | pages = 53–57 | year = 1997 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 |url = http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=974955&dl=GUIDE&coll=GUIDE&CFID=75229392&CFTOKEN=55758856
 |title = Sun Labs-The First Five Years: The First Fifty Technical Reports. A Commemorative Issue
 |journal = Ching-Chih Chang, Amy Hall, Jeanie Treichel
 |publisher = Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 |access-date = 2010-02-07
|year = 1998
 |last1 = Chang
 |first1 = Ching-Chih
 |last2 = Hall
 |first2 = Amy
 |last3 = Treichel
 |first3 = Jeanie
 }}</ref>
He created the original design of Java and implemented the language's original compiler and [[virtual machine]].<ref>
{{cite web
| url           = http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1017013
| title         = A Conversation with James Gosling
| last1         = Gosling
| first1        = James 
| author-link1   = James Gosling
| date          = 2004-08-31
| website       = ACM Queue
| publisher     = ACM
| access-date    = 2014-07-03
| quote         = At Sun he is best known for creating the original design of Java and implementing its original compiler and virtual machine.
}}
</ref> Gosling traces the origins of the approach to his early graduate student days, when he created a [[P-code machine|p-code virtual machine]] for the lab's [[DEC VAX]] computer, so that his professor could run programs written in [[UCSD Pascal]]. In the work leading to Java at Sun, he saw that architecture-neutral execution for widely distributed programs could be achieved by implementing a similar philosophy:  always program for the same virtual machine.<ref name="McMillan2011">{{Cite journal | author = McMillan, W.W. | doi = 10.1109/MSPEC.2011.5910448 | title = The soul of the virtual machine: Java's ability to run on many different kinds of computers grew out of software devised decades before | journal = IEEE Spectrum | volume = 48 | issue = 7 | pages = 44–48 | year = 2011 | s2cid = 40545952 }}</ref>

Another contribution of Gosling's was co-writing the "[[Shar (file format)|bundle]]" program, known as "shar", a utility thoroughly detailed in [[Brian Kernighan]] and [[Rob Pike]]'s book ''[[The Unix Programming Environment]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kernighan |first1=Brian W |last2=Pike |first2=Rob |title=The Unix Programming Environment |date=1984 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=0-13-937681-X |pages=[https://archive.org/details/unixprogramminge0000kern/page/97 97-100] |url=https://archive.org/details/unixprogramminge0000kern/page/97 }}</ref>

He left Sun Microsystems on April 2, 2010, after it was acquired by the [[Oracle Corporation]],<ref name="LeavesSun">{{cite web |last1=Guevin |first1=Jennifer |title=Java co-creator James Gosling leaves Oracle |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/java-co-creator-james-gosling-leaves-oracle/ |website=CNET |access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref> citing reductions in pay, status, and decision-making ability, along with change of role and ethical challenges.<ref>Darryl K. Taft. (2010-09-22) [http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Java-Creator-James-Gosling-Why-I-Quit-Oracle-813517/ Java Creator James Gosling: Why I Quit Oracle]. eWEEK.com</ref> He has since taken a very critical stance towards Oracle in interviews, noting that "during the integration meetings between Sun and Oracle, where we were being grilled about the patent situation between Sun and Google, we could see the Oracle lawyer's eyes sparkle."<ref name="joinGoogle">Shankland, Stephen. (2011-03-28) [https://www.cnet.com/news/java-founder-james-gosling-joins-google/ Java founder James Gosling joins Google]. CNET Retrieved on 2012-02-21.</ref> He clarified his position during the ''[[Oracle v. Google]]'' trial over Android: "While I have differences with Oracle, in this case they are in the right. Google totally slimed Sun. We were all really disturbed, even [[Jonathan I. Schwartz|Jonathan]] [Schwartz]: he just decided to put on a happy face and tried to turn lemons into lemonade, which annoyed a lot of folks at Sun."<ref>[http://nighthacks.com/jag/blog/393/index.html My attitude on Oracle v Google]. Nighthacks.com. Retrieved on 2016-05-17.</ref> However, he approved of the court's ruling that APIs should not be copyrightable.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nighthacks.com/jag/blog/397/index.html|title=Meltdown Averted|website=Nighthacks.com|access-date=2017-03-13}}</ref>

In March 2011, Gosling joined [[Google]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Next step on the road... |url=https://nighthacks.com/jag/blog/365/index.html |access-date=2025-10-10 |website=nighthacks.com}}</ref> Six months later, he followed his colleague Bill Vass and joined a startup called [[Liquid Robotics]].<ref name="nighthacks1"/> In late 2016, Liquid Robotics was acquired by [[Boeing]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.liquid-robotics.com/press-releases/boeing-to-acquire-liquid-robotics-to-enhance-autonomous-seabed-to-space-information-services/|title=Boeing to Acquire Liquid Robotics to Enhance Autonomous Seabed-to-Space Information Services|date=December 6, 2016}}</ref> Following the acquisition, Gosling left Liquid Robotics to work at [[Amazon Web Services]] as Distinguished Engineer in May 2017.<ref name="aws">{{cite web|url=http://fortune.com/2017/05/22/java-creator-james-gosling-joins-amazon-web-services/|title=Legendary Techie James Gosling Joins Amazon Web Services|last=Darrow|first=Barb|date=May 23, 2017|website=Fortune.com|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> He retired in July 2024.<ref>[https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7213740307538956289/ LinkedIn post about retirement]</ref>

He has worked as an advisor at the [[Scala (programming language)|Scala]] company [[Lightbend]],<ref>[http://typesafe.com/company/team Typesafe — Company: Team]. Typesafe.com. Retrieved on 2012-02-21.</ref> Independent Director at [[Jelastic]],<ref>[http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/11/Gosling-and-Souza-Join-Jelastic James Gosling and Bruno Souza Join Jelastic as Advisers]. InfoQ.com. Retrieved on 2014-11-24.</ref> and Strategic Advisor for [[Eucalyptus (computing)|Eucalyptus]],<ref>[http://www.eucalyptus.com/news/eucalyptus-appoints-dr-james-gosling-inventor-java-strategic-advisor Eucalyptus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425061622/http://www.eucalyptus.com/news/eucalyptus-appoints-dr-james-gosling-inventor-java-strategic-advisor |date=2013-04-25 }}. Eucalyptus.com Retrieved on 2013-04-22</ref> and is a board member of DIRTT Environmental Solutions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dirtt.net/company/leadership/james-gosling|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323154924/https://www.dirtt.net/company/leadership/james-gosling|archive-date=2018-03-23|url-status= unfit|title=James Gosling|website=DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd.}}</ref>

==Awards==
For his achievement, the [[National Academy of Engineering]] in the [[United States]] elected him as a Foreign Associate member.<ref name="NAE">{{cite web | url = http://www.nae.edu/MembersSection/Directory20412/30859.aspx | title = NAE Members Directory – Dr. James Arthur Gosling | publisher = [[National Academy of Engineering|NAE]] | access-date = March 29, 2011}}</ref> 
*2002: awarded ''[[The Economist]]'' Innovation Award.<ref>[http://www.economistconferences.co.uk/innovation/winners2002 The 2002 Economist Innovation Award Winner] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422181414/http://www.economistconferences.co.uk/innovation/winners2002 |date=2012-04-22 }}.</ref>
*2002: awarded ''[[USENIX#USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award|The Flame Award]]'' USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usenix.org/about/flame|title=Flame Award|date=6 December 2011|website=Usenix.org|access-date=20 January 2018}}</ref>
*2007: made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4984 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080207062736/http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4984 |archive-date=February 7, 2008 |title=Governor |url-status=dead |access-date=August 28, 2016 }}. February 20, 2007</ref> The Order is Canada's second highest civilian honor. Officers are the second highest grade within the Order.
*2013: became a [[fellow]] of the [[Association for Computing Machinery]].<ref>[http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2013/fellows-2013 ACM Names Fellows for Computing Advances that Are Transforming Science and Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722132808/http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/2013/fellows-2013 |date=2014-07-22 }}, [[Association for Computing Machinery]], accessed 2013-12-10.</ref>
*2015: awarded [[IEEE John von Neumann Medal]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/von_neumann_rl.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619223921/http://ieee.org/documents/von_neumann_rl.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 19, 2010|title=IEEE JOHN VON NEUMANN MEDAL : RECIPIENTS|website=Ieee.org|access-date=20 January 2018}}</ref>
*2019: named a [[Computer History Museum]] [[Fellow]] for the conception, design, and implementation of the [[Java (programming language)|Java]] programming language.<ref>[https://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/James-Gosling/ Computer History Museum names James Gosling a 2019 Fellow]</ref>

==Books==
* [[Ken Arnold]], James Gosling, David Holmes, ''The Java Programming Language, Fourth Edition'', Addison-Wesley Professional, 2005, {{ISBN|0-321-34980-6}}
* James Gosling, [[Bill Joy]], [[Guy L. Steele, Jr.|Guy L. Steele Jr.]], [[Gilad Bracha]], ''The Java Language Specification, Third Edition'', Addison-Wesley Professional, 2005, {{ISBN|0-321-24678-0}}
* Ken Arnold, James Gosling, David Holmes, ''The Java Programming Language, Third Edition'', Addison-Wesley Professional, 2000, {{ISBN|0-201-70433-1}}
* James Gosling, Bill Joy, Guy L. Steele Jr., Gilad Bracha, ''The Java Language Specification, Second Edition'', Addison-Wesley, 2000, {{ISBN|0-201-31008-2}}
* Gregory Bollella (Editor), Benjamin Brosgol, James Gosling, Peter Dibble, Steve Furr, David Hardin, Mark Turnbull, ''The Real-Time Specification for Java'', Addison Wesley Longman, 2000, {{ISBN|0-201-70323-8}}
* Ken Arnold, James Gosling, ''The Java programming language Second Edition'', Addison-Wesley, 1997, {{ISBN|0-201-31006-6}}
* Ken Arnold, James Gosling, ''The Java programming language'', Addison-Wesley, 1996, {{ISBN|0-201-63455-4}}
* James Gosling, Bill Joy, Guy L. Steele Jr., ''The Java Language Specification'', Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1996, {{ISBN|0-201-63451-1}}
* James Gosling, Frank Yellin, The Java Team, ''The Java Application Programming Interface, Volume 2: Window Toolkit and Applets'', Addison-Wesley, 1996, {{ISBN|0-201-63459-7}}
* James Gosling, Frank Yellin, The Java Team, ''The Java Application Programming Interface, Volume 1: Core Packages'', Addison-Wesley, 1996, {{ISBN|0-201-63453-8}}
* James Gosling, Henry McGilton, ''[http://www.stroustrup.com/1995_Java_whitepaper.pdf The Java language Environment: A white paper]'', [[Sun Microsystems]], 1996
* James Gosling, [[David S. H. Rosenthal]], Michelle J. Arden, ''The NeWS Book: An Introduction to the Network/Extensible Window System (Sun Technical Reference Library)'', Springer, 1989, {{ISBN|0-387-96915-2}}

==See also==
{{Commons category|James Gosling}}
{{Portal|Computer programming}}
*[[Java (software platform)#History|History of Java]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://nighthacks.com/jag/blog/ James Gosling's personal weblog]
*[http://www.infoq.com/presentations/gosling-jvm-lang-summit-keynote Presentation] by James Gosling about the origins of Java, from the JVM Languages Summit 2008
*[http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/Abstracts/110309.html The Process of Innovation] – James Gosling's talk at [[Stanford University]] ([http://ee380.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/videologger.php?target=110309-ee380-300.asx video archive])
*[https://twit.tv/shows/triangulation/episodes/245 James Gosling interview] on Triangulation ([[TWiT.tv]]). Recorded 2016-04-11

{{Java (Sun)}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Canadian male bloggers]]
[[Category:Canadian computer programmers]]
[[Category:Canadian computer scientists]]
[[Category:Canadian inventors]]
[[Category:Canadian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Icelandic descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Welsh descent]]
[[Category:Carnegie Mellon University alumni]]
[[Category:Emacs]]
[[Category:2013 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Free software programmers]]
[[Category:Java (programming language)]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Open source people]]
[[Category:Scientists from Calgary]]
[[Category:Programming language designers]]
[[Category:Solaris people]]
[[Category:Sun Microsystems people]]
[[Category:University of Calgary alumni]]
[[Category:Winners of The Economist innovation awards]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Engineering]]