Software development has shifted focus from efficiency to productivity, reusability, and user-friendliness. Object-oriented programming (OOP) models objects that contain data and methods. Key OOP concepts include inheritance, where subclasses extend and modify superclass features. An integrated development environment (IDE) combines tools like editors, compilers, linkers, and debuggers. Java uses a hybrid approach of compiling to bytecode, then interpreting for platform independence. Console applications use text input/output. Graphical user interface (GUI) applications use menus and buttons. Applets run in web browsers.