In short...stick with C++ unless you need cross-platform usability and don't need anything complex.

i know people have already posted alot on this, but here'e my 2 cents.

java is easy. there are a HUGE number of libraries that sun and other people have provided. No matter what you are trying to accomplish, if you look hard enough, you'll find that someone has already written a function to do it for you. In C++, there are quite a few default libraries, but you deal with alot more in depth coding using system calls and whatnot. THis is even more true if you use C (which I do). Besides this, the syntax for the languages are pretty similar, and each could be written to look like the other. The real difference, as I see it, is the performance. C/C++ has very little abstraction between the program and the operating system, making it very fast. Java, on the other hand, has a virtual machine between it and the OS, which increases portability, but decreases speed immensly. Also, java is an entirely interpreted language, which (very basically) means is compiles each line as it reads it, slowing it down further. In the end, unless you're writing an applet for use on a website, theres no reason to use java if you've got a decent amount of programming skill.

-afrothunder

The whole reason java and C++ are so similar is because java is based on C++. It was acctually made to be used more in web development anyway, something which C++ was lacking. Java cut down on all the memory management and such in order to make web programming easier (try programming the memory managment when you have to think about IE or some other random browser in the mix too....).

I'm primarily java programmer, but some years ago I used c++ as my primary programming language.

I can list some(not all) features which are big adventages in java:
1. garbage collector (you don't think about empty pointers)
2. numerous libraries (especially open-source libraries)
3. almost full object programming
4. cross-platform programming and running
5. you can write programs and pay nothing for licences(free IDE, free frameworks etc.)
6. very big community

Replying to qwijibow
I don't think that is correct. In Java you declare a user defined object array as (for example Student class objects)

ArrayList<Student> list = new ArrayList<Student>( );

You don't bother with pointers, you don't have to use a for-loop. That's it!

-reply by Jose

Afrothunder has some excellent points. However, as systems get faster Java's speed in no longer critical issue. If you are new to programming, Java is the perfect language to learn computer concepts. I teach Adnanced Placement Computer Science in high school. I have taught BASIC, Pascal, C++ and now Java to high students. Try teaching students to write game programs for their cell phones with C++ and you will appreciate Java's portability. Everything you need to start programming in Java is free, I repeat FREE. Even the J2ME to create programs for cell phones is free. So far based on my personal experience and from feedback I have received at blogs like this, the majority of negative comments on Java seem to come from C++ programmers who have less than one year serious experience with Java. They are too proud to admit what they don't know or to ask for help!

-reply by Jose