>All this talk about MS dropping J++ has started me thinking about what JAVA is. Can anyone answer a few questions?
>
>(1) Can JAVA code be compiled to a WIN EXE to create desktop applications?

Depends on the compiler. J++ could emit a native .EXE, and other products may offer this as an option, but you'd not have the cross-platform portability.

>(2) Why is JAVA said to be slow?

Probably because pure Java enviironments execute on a virtual machine.

>(3) Can you use ActiveX controls in JAVA? ADO?

Not in native pure Java. there are extension classes such as J++'s WFC that make these options available, but then it stops being pure Java.

>(4) Can a JAVA application call methods on a VFP COM server?

J++ can use COM; not all Java environments support COM.

>(5) Can you create COM objects with JAVA?

J++ can create COM Objects, but ti stops being pure Java when you do.

>(6) In a web browser, does JAVA and client side scripting do the same things (i.e, run code to respond to DHTML events)?
>

Client side scripting is code that runs on the browser end of things.