I would say learn Java not because there is a lot of existing Java code (using legacy code as the main argument is a bit presumptuous) but because the JVM is a versatile and powerful foundation for your code: profiling, debugging, hot class-swapping, monitoring are really well done.
Then there's the ton of libraries for everything and good tooling.
Of course, the language itself might be a bit too verbose for some people but I'd rather take Java and the JVM then another language where I'm missing some of this.
I guess most people don't differentiate Java the language from the Java Virtual Machine and that's a shame. I could be doing JRuby on the JVM and be happy then drop into Java for some optimized code. Thus, Java just happens to be the "C" programming language of the JVM.
Then there's the ton of libraries for everything and good tooling.
Of course, the language itself might be a bit too verbose for some people but I'd rather take Java and the JVM then another language where I'm missing some of this.
I guess most people don't differentiate Java the language from the Java Virtual Machine and that's a shame. I could be doing JRuby on the JVM and be happy then drop into Java for some optimized code. Thus, Java just happens to be the "C" programming language of the JVM.