Java Platform offers JRE and JDK to run Java programs. JRE stands for
Java runtime environment and JDK stands for Java development kit. JRE is meant
for normal users, who wants to run Java program in there computer. JRE is normally
used to run Java programs downloaded over internet e.g. Java Applets and Java
Desktop application built using AWT
and Swing. Main difference
between JRE and JDK, comes from the fact that they are different tools. JDK
is created for Java programmers, and contains tools required for Java
programming, e.g. javac for compiling Java source files to .class
files. Without JDK, you can not create Java applications and programs. By
the way JDK comes with it's own JRE, but when you run Java program using java command,
the JRE which comes first in System
PATH is used for execution. One of the important thing to know is that, you
can not run Java program from your machine if you don't have either JRE or JDK.
You can also consider JDK as super set, which also contains JRE. For a normal
user, installing
JDK is overkill. They needs JRE only and any browser will assist them for
installing JRE, as browser plugin. By the way, beware with any security issue,
while installing JRE. JRE releases
sometimes has security flaws which can compromise your computer, that's the
reason recently many browser has by default disabled Java. Any way, in next
section we will see some more difference
between JRE and JDK in Java.
Difference between JRE vs JDK in Java
In last post, we have seen Difference
between JVM and JIT in Java and Now we will compare JDK and JRE. Here are some points, which is useful to differentiate JRE from JDK.
Remember JRE, meant for Java Runtime Environment and JDK stands for Java
Development Kit. If you go by there
name, You can easily see what is difference in JDK and JRE.
1) Main difference between JRE and JDK is that, you can not compile Java
program using JRE. Tools required for compiling Java source file to create
class files, i.e. javac,
comes with JDK installation.
2) As name suggest JRE is for running Java program and developed as
browser plugin. In order to run any Java program from browser like Internet
Explore, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, you need JRE to be installed in your
machine and should be enable on your browser as well.
3) JRE is meant for users, while JDK is meant for programmers. Since Java
was sensation during Internet boom of 1990s, where Applet was most popular for
its rich offering over internet, JRE was required to run those applet on users
machines.
That's all on difference between JRE and JDK in Java platform. As
I said, only JRE is enough to run Java program and JDK is required only if you
want to do programming in Java platform. For normal internet users JRE is
enough, but beware of security hols comes now and then with different Java releases.
Related Java article from Java67 Blog
It is not about which is better, as each offers different benefits for the developer. The JRE will help in running downloaded Java programs on desktop computers. It will accept the same byte code and convert it to machine code and make it compatible for operating systems like Win 32, Win 64, Linux and Android. On the other hand, JDK offers useful tools to develop Java applications.
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