That's a pretty astonishingly limiting question, but I would recommend that you go for Java, if you're only going to do one systems language. As a new programme

That's a pretty astonishingly limiting question, but I would recommend that you go for Java, if you're only going to do one systems language. As a new programmer, (which I assume you must be) the "power user" features of C++ (pointer arithmetic, templates, operator overloading) are going to be more confusing than useful. Really, though, if you only have time to learn one language, make it something you can get some real use out of early on, like Python, PHP, or Ruby. Learning C++ or Java alone could be more of an exercise in masochism than anything else.