I read your question regarding java  is independent  or not. Have you read any
books on Java? Never mind if not then please go for Begging Java 2 from
Wrox, it's a really nice book for a beginner. As you may already know when
you compile a Java source file, Java compiler is convert it to Bite Code
that is .class file. When run this .class file Java interpreter will convert
it to that Machine Native language and now it can be execute on that
particular machine. See JVM is needed if you would like to run any java
code. But the plus point of Java independent is you can write once and run
it anywhere, means if you have created any Java source can run on Windows,
Unix, Linux, OS-2 or any Operating system on any machine just you need is
JVM installed on that machine. This is not possible with any other
procedural languages like VB. Today we have Java enabled Browsers available.
A little example of Java independent is Websites you currently access (made
with the help of Java) is not made for a particular machine or a particular
OS though we are able to run it on any machine that may have several OS
installed.



I hope this may cleared your doubt?