Hey kO2n, did you start out on Java? What was the language they 101-ed you at? The comp-sci at my college used C, but I heard Java was starting to be used instead (well I heard this from other places and to be honest I dont know if my college is currently using C still or not). Just curious 
I actually started with basic and vb but that was in my own time. At uni we are being taught Java in opposition to c or c++. More the fact that Java is slightly simpilar to learn and because of nifty little things like a garbage collector which i’m lead to believe languages like C, C++ don’t have. I wont go too indepth.
C++ is still faster than Java, at the moment anyway. So more program’s and applications are being made from that. However the popularity and platform independence mean that Java is steadily gaining worldwide support and is becoming a leading web language. Its a pretty secure language also, especially over the internet.
I live in the UK so our curriculumn maybe different to yours in USA. Apparently though, Java programmers are rare compared to those who can programme in C, C++ thus making Java programmers like gold dust ;).
Regards,
Viru.
Java’s strength lies greatly in its portability though - but thats also a reason for its poor performance in comparison to C/C++ because of the VM etc. But, Java also has a strong place on the web - espeically in an educational capacity. For example there are a lot of educational, uni-based applets out there for purposes of demonstrating some thing here or there, whether it be program related or not (math in general uses them a bit). And probably more importantly, web-based games and chats. But yeah, in terms of large application development, Java isnt exactly #1 … yet 
heh
