The Java programming language started as the language Oak when the World Wide Web was still being developed at CERN. It has gained popularity since its launch as a programming language capable of being used to develop applications which can run across the Internet (as well as local stand-alone programs). As with many technologies associated with the World Wide Web, there is a lot of 'hype', confusion, and misinformation. Consequently, while many researchers in the area of Natural Language Processing and Machine Translation will have heard of Java, may be considering using it, or even have got as far as their first 'Hello World' applet, they are probably not fully aware of what the implications of using this language are, and what possible role it could have in the development of computational linguistic applications, either intended to run locally on a wide range of computing platforms, or remotely across the Internet. This paper sets out to address this issue by presenting Java in a clear, concise fashion and considering how it may be used in computational linguistic applications. A requirements analysis for a generic Natural Language Processing and Machine Translation tool is undertaken to consider how Java could be used, and subsequently two example systems developed in Java (which can be accessed on the Internet) are introduced. Finally, pointers to Java resources are presented so that researchers interested in using this language can both install it and learn how to program it.