where do Java fits?

Im a newbie and want to learn Java. My question is where it's best fit? In application dev. like VB and VC++, or web development competing with ASP,PHP, or some other fields? thanks in advance

Java fits the best when you want to create large systems, and also as webdevelopment-language. As long as you don't create userapplications, JAva comes to it's best.

Java cannot really be compared to VB or C/C++, because in Java you have large frameworks underneith - like the J2EE when you want to run a large server/system that uses EJB's, large RDBMS's with many connections to it ( When you need connection pooling ) and so on. You use J2ME when you want to create applications for portable computers ( Like Palm's and cellphones ) and J2SE when you want to run single applications. Java have a wide market, as you can see.

So if you want to create GUI's, Java it's ot the preffered language, even though you can use it - to get the platformindependence.

ok thanks