A step up from C and C++, Java is the programming language of choice for many Web and software developers. Very similar to C and C++ in its syntax, it is object oriented but structured around "classes" instead of "functions." To quote Sun Microsystems, the developers of the Java language, Java is a "simple, object-oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust, secure, architecture-neutral, portable, high-performance, multithreaded, dynamic, buzzword-eompliant, general-purpose programming language.