Java Web Start and Applets

Abstract

In its early days, Java came to prominence because of Java applets, running in web browsers. Applets have had something of a checkered history since then, and most Java web technologies belong in the enterprise edition rather than the standard edition of Java. However, applets are still widely used, and can be a useful component of rich Internet applications. Also associated with the web, but less directly, is Java Web Start, which allows desktop applications to be deployed over the web. In this chapter, we will begin by looking at Java Web Start and then look at applets, which can now use the same deployment mechanism as Java Web Start, making it very easy to switch between the two modes of deployment. Since both Java Web Start and applets require us to create web pages with appropriate links to Java applications or applets, we will begin with brief overviews of web browsers, URLs, and HTML.