There has been quite a bit of hype about Java. In fact, when Java was first being created, one of the goals was to make a programming language that escaped the trappings commonly found in C. Java is a platform independent language.
Lets first define what a platform dependant language is.
The programs you write in Basic will be able to run on Windows, but not much else. Below are two URLs you can click on to view some of my creations on my web page. The first sample is a program I wrote is a database with a simple log in validator. After you input the correct log in value, you can view some data. The second sample is an even more simple program that allows you to view some data simply by clicking on one of the radio buttons.