java

[gingerflaps]

wot is java

[Clanad]

It can be a hand soap marketed for years, at least in the U.S. for working man hands, or it can be viscous rock heated by volcanic action... When the same molten mass is still deep in the earth is called magma, it iscalled lava when it reaches the surface...

[rja211077]

methinks Clanad needs to read questions a bit more carefully.

why not visit http://www.sun.com/java/ where you'll find all the info you need, i'd bet.

[gingerflaps]

java, not lava...i just scaned my pc for viruses and it said i had 4 viruses called/from java. i dont know wot JAVA is

[fo3nix]

java is a computer programming language (in this context).

[MargeB]

It's a type of coffee...thus the name of a programming language. The guy who designed it looked out of his window while searching for a name, saw a tree, so called the language 'Oak'. But this was taken for something else, so he looked at his cup of coffee, and called the language 'Java' etc. You get 'Java beans' also, which is a special type of programming subset for Java.

Worth a mention:

-it is MULTIPLATFORM: can be run on windows or mac (very handy for net based programs) since it runs off a virtual machine (JVM).

-it is Object Oriented (ie you program the 'real world' into your program by using 'objects' and assign them attributes and actions: e.g. Dog: type of (breed); walks/barks.)

-You don't need to assign memory throughout the program.

Try java. It fun.

[Clanad]

Woha!... need to use my glasses more regularly... swear it said lava... thought it was kind of a strange question...

[MargeB]

Very magmanimous of you, Clanad.

[stevie21]

It's still not as good a language as C++
I think it'll be replaced sometime soonish by a new, more fashionable language and that one will get all the hype that java currently enjoys.

[Space]

Java is not "not as good as C++", it is just different.

It is not as fast to run, but it is faster to program, as far as I can remember.

[OBonio]

Space is correct. In many ways Java is better than C++, and in other ways C++ is better than Java. It depends what you are trying to do that dictates the language.

[mikeyp]

Java is much easier to learn than c++, because it deals with stuff like garbage collection for you. And stevie21, it's only a matter of time before C# is the new java. It's as easy to code as java, but allows really simple user interfaces, and allows pointers and powerful stuff that makes c++ better than java. I recommend everyone learn it now!

[stevie21]

Isn't C# a Microsoft proprietary job? For any purist tech geeks out there that'd probably be a major downfall, even if the language itself was "pure dead brilliant".