Why Java?

I guess it's a matter of opinion, but I'm not sure if I would recommend such a thing in the first place. I don't know how "OS-independent" your programs need to be, but, unless I am mistaken, QB64 already targets Win32, Linux, and Mac OS X. If I recall correctly, QB64 uses SDL, a cross platform library.

There are other cross platform libraries also, such as GTK+, Allegro, pdcurses, OpenGL, etc. Of course, the program would have to be compiled and linked separately for each platform.

Also, just because a program is compiled for one platform doesn't mean it can't run on another. For example, Wine allows Win32 programs to run on Linux and FreeBSD, and also, FreeBSD can run Linux programs.

I am not very familiar with Java, other than what little I've read about it. However, it sounds like you aren't a Java programmer yet. So, it doesn't seem like you should have any attachment to it.

Just how cross platform do you need your programs to be? What kind of capabilities do they need to have?

Regards,
Michael