- Java is an Object Oriented Programming (OOP) language
  closely related to C++.

- C++ is an object oriented version of C.

- Object Oriented languages like C++ offer perhaps a
  better way to organize and manage large, complex
  applications.

- All OOP languages must contain at least three
  capabilities.  They are encapsulation, inheritance, and
  polymorphism.

- Java was developed at Sun Microsystems and initially
  referred to as the Green project and later by the name
  Oak.  The language was finally named Java in 1995.

- Java was initially developed to be a platform
  independent embedded language for consumer electronics.

- The World Wide Web, however, brought Java into the
  spotlight.

- The Java language can be used to create two types of
  programs - applets and applications.
 

- Applets are used by a Web browser to create dynamic
  programs over the internet.

- Applications are programs that are created to run
  on a given machine, not over the internet.

- Later, you will see that applications are not only
  compiled, but executed in conjunction with an
  interpreter.  The two phase approach to execution, and
  specifically the interpretation phase is what gives
  Java it's platform independence.

- Java applications look a lot like a C++ program and
  even have a main() method.

- One big problem with Java applets is there lack of file
  I/O due to security concerns.

- One of the biggest advantages to using Java is its
  platform independence for code and interface.

- One other capability offered with Java is the ability
  to create multi-threaded programs.  Multi-threaded
  programs give you the ability to do several things at
  one time