Java ecosystem
The three most basic parts of the Java ecosystem are:
These 3 are stock parts that are supplied by Java implementations.
“There are many companies, organizations and groups of people, called “communities” that contribute to the enrichment and development of Java technologies. All these entities make up what is known as “the Java ecosystem.”
This ecosystem gives us many options, so many times we will be forced to choose.
Libraries and Java API (Aplication Program Interface) Java is not just a language. It is a software development platform. Its distributions contain multiple libraries and tools.
When programming in Java we do not start from scratch. We use class packages created previously known as libraries. Java comes with many libraries included that are known as the “Java API”. The Java API has facilities; concurrent programming, network management and distributed programming, security, GUI and more.
Before developing a functionality it is good to investigate if there is already a library that implements it. It's amazing the amount and quality of free libraries for Java which already exist.”
Fair Use Source: http://www.edu4java.com/en/java/java-ecosystem.html