I still think Java offers a nice balance between complexity and expression power, and since it's OO it's a very good starting point. C/C++ are more powerful languages, but it somes at a cost in learning. I have only done a few courses in C/C++, but pointers/address operators/references are hard to grab when you're beginning your path. In Java, you don't have to worry about those things, which makes it a lot easier to learn. And after you learn the basic concepts in Java, including OOP, then it's simple enough to step up to C++ and start exploring the new possibilities it offers. That is, if you so desire. But it's entirely fine to stay in Java also, apart from performance you're unlikely to run into anything that would prevent you from doing anything.
