Present status of java?

Nothing really, Java is in common commercial use and is in active development.

Mainly because the class libraries associated with Java these days have become so large, varied and complex that an IDE is the easiest way to work. I think of it as a form of co-evolution, the IDEs have enabled programmers to cope with a far greater degree of anarchic complexity and so the developers of the Java class libraries have produced ever increasing layers of complexity.

Another reason is that Java conventions (such as Beans) require a great deal of boilerplate code which IDEs generate automatically. IMHO the existence of boilerplate code is a strong indication of a design error, but that is just my opinion - others differ.

That is one view - personally I prefer code to be clear, intentional, brief and obviously correct. IME Java code is rarely any of these (and yes I have worked in Java professionally for a number of years). You may gather that I don't like Java much, actually it is Java culture I don't like much.

A good example is the way that a simple "extract from database and display to user" program in Java usually contains a set of data access objects, a corresponding set of transfer objects, a number of model objects, view objects and a controller object which interfaces with the rest via a series of facade objects.

This is another reason for IDEs - navigating that much structural complexity without one is hard.

Now that sounds like trolling. I have used (professsionally and extensively) assemblers, BCPL, C, C++, Perl, PHP, Python, Java, JavaScript and a number of other languages to lesser extent. I am certainly not adolescent, but I do regard learning new languages as they come to prominence as an important part of professional develoment.

Yes Java source is compiled to byte code which runs on a virtual machine. Some Java virtual machines operate by JIT compiling the byte code to native code others interpret the byte code.

No, Java is alive and well.

All copyright files are law.

If you're using an IDE why would you care where the compiler is and what it is called ? Hiding all that messy detail is what the IDE is for.

Sun died because their workstation and server hardware did not compete in price/performance terms with PCs and server grade PCs.

It's what he does.

Good, profound reasoning: acknowledging socio/psycho/economic causes.

We all prefer a shorter distance. But a bicycle can often be justified.

I mean: when I look into a software package, I don't want to first do a PhD in law.

Yes, but asking about the connection between java & iDEs doesn't prove that I've got an IDE to run java.

Interesting - thanks.

Fair point - OK the Java compiler is usually called javac and one popular java variant of make is ant.