If you’re learning programming languages or applying them to ongoing IT training and placement, there’s a good chance that you have encountered some unsettled questions about Java. “Is it obsolete?” some of your professional colleagues may have inquired. “Are there limits on its relevant applications?” others might have more charitably asked.

As of this year, Java has been available to the public for exactly twenty years. And on various dusty corners of the web you can still find assertions of its obsolescence dating back nearly half of its lifespan, at least to 2007. Forum posts and IT industry articles from just a couple of years ago acknowledge the debate as already being pretty old.

That should tell you something in and of itself. None of the previous suggestions that Java is past its prime have proved to be substantiated. After twenty years, it remains one of the most popular programming languages in use today, and the list of relevant applications is continuing to grow, not only in terms of quality but also in terms of diversity and level of sophistication.

You can find selections of those applications scattered around the web, and they are much more informative than any of the debates about java’s obsolescence. Most any online IT training consultancy in the USA ought to be able to point to some such examples as a way of demonstrating why java online training is still an essential skill for trainees of all kinds, and particularly for those with certain goals, or with prospective IT placements in certain industries that are making the best modern use of java.

One article at SitePoint lists, among other things, some of the most popular everyday web destinations and tech tools that use java. These include the search interface on Twitter, Google Web Toolkit, and Android mobile devices. Meanwhile, a technical writer at DZone has picked out ten java applications that show off the various dimensions of the language’s power and versatility. These include software for experimental hardware platforms, tools for DJs and audio mixers, learning tools developed by NASA, a word processing application, and “a pure Java emulation of an x86 PC with fully virtual peripherals.”

This diversity seems to confirm what one writer at Examiner said recently about the career opportunities associated with java: they are not limited to software and graphic design companies but also include educational institutions, non-profits, and more. These observations – both general and specific – about the uses of java should do more than simply convince the reader that it is far from obsolete. They ought to enliven one’s imagination with ideas about what sorts of projects and IT career placements he can hope to pursue with the right java online training under his belt.