With the increasing importance of standards for system-level objects such as COM and CORBA, it is particularly important that the C++ bindings to those be clean, well documented, and simple to use.

I assume that a sufficiently skilled will be able to do anything not explicitly forbidden by the hardware.

Some software is actually pretty good, by any standard. Think of the Mars Rovers, Google, and the Human Genome Project. Now, that's quality software!

This evolution may compromise Java's claim of being simpler than C++, but my guess is that the effort will make Java a better language than it is today.

However, when Java is promoted as the sole programming language, its flaws and limitations become serious.

A program that has not been tested does not work.

Nobody should call themselves a professional if they only knew one language.