The distinction is usually completely omitted. Java as a language is fine if a little verbose, but the JVM is a pain. And you really only realize the difference once you use either with alternatives, like Scala in the JVM or Java as a cross compilation language. A tutorial would have to be "this is how you write a main class/function in this language, for/while/in keywords etc., but in a JVM environment you need a File, a BufferedReader, and a BufferedWriter to open a file and read/write to it. StringBuffer is standard library and part of the language, using Scala will allow functional aspects, but the file handling remains."