Is it Java? What does it do?

Is it difficult to learn?

Just to get us started, JavaScript is basically a scripting language that helps kick HTML into overdrive. With it, elements in a document can be programmatically accessed and manipulated, bringing a dull web page to life.

Java is completely different from JavaScript-It's a lot more powerful, more complex, and unfortunately, a lot harder to master. It belongs in the same league as C, C++, and other more complex languages. Also, you need to compile a Java program before you can run it, whereas with JavaScript, no compilation is needed-simply open up a text editor, type it, save it, and your browser is ready to run it!

The 2 languages have almost nothing in common except for the name. Although Java is technically an interpreted programming language, it is coded in a similar fashion to C++, with separate header and class files, compiled together prior to execution. It is powerful enough to write major applications and insert them in a web page as a special object called an "applet."

Java has been generating a lot of excitment because of its unique ability to run the same program on IBM, Mac, and Unix computers. Java is not considered an easy-to-use language for non-programmers.