Computing giant, Oracle has released the first major update to Java since its takeover of Sun Microsystems in 2010.

The Java Standard Edition 7 (SE 7) is the first major update to the open source platform in five years. The platform will now support programming languages such as Ruby, Python and Javascript, offer simpler programming tasks, and a "multicore-ready" API.

Oracle has said that about 97% of enterprise desktops run Java wile three billion devices run the platform. The company has said that it is planning to release the next version of the platform, the Java SE 8.

"Oracle has a strong vested interest in the success of the Java platform and is firmly committed to delivering a consistent, high-performance, high-quality Java SE implementation and will be supporting the Java SE 7 release across the Oracle Fusion Middleware product portfolio," said Hasan Rizvi, senior vice president Oracle Fusion Middleware and Java products.

Developers will be able to access the new SE 7 through NetBeans IDE 7, Eclipse Indigo with the Java SE 7 plug-in, or IntelliJ IDEA 10.5. Oracle JDeveloper support for JDK 7 is scheduled to be released later in the year.