Герберт Шилдт (Herbert Schildt)How Java Impacted the Internet
The Internet helped catapult Java to the forefront of programming, and Java, in turn, had a profound effect on the Internet. In addition to simplifying web programming in general, Java innovated a new type of networked program called the applet that changed the way the online world thought about content.
Java also addressed some of the thorniest issues associated with the Internet:
portability and security. Let’s look more closely at each of these.
Java Applets
At the time of Java’s creation, one of its most exciting features was the applet.
An applet is a special kind of Java program that is designed to be transmitted over the Internet and automatically executed inside a Java-compatible web browser. If the user clicks a link that contains an applet, the applet will download and run in the browser. Applets were intended to be small programs.
They were typically used to display data provided by the server, handle user input, or provide simple functions, such as a loan calculator, that execute locally, rather than on the server. In essence, the applet allowed some functionality to be moved from the server to the client.
The creation of the applet was important because, at the time, it expanded the universe of objects that could move about freely in cyberspace. In general, there are two very broad categories of objects that are transmitted between the server and the client: passive information and dynamic, active programs. For example, when you read your e-mail, you are viewing passive data. Even when you download a program, the program’s code is still only passive data until you execute it. By contrast, the applet is a dynamic, self-executing program. Such a program is an active agent on the client computer, yet it is initiated by the server.
In the early days of Java, applets were a crucial part of Java programming.
They illustrated the power and benefits of Java, added an exciting dimension to web pages, and enabled programmers to explore the full extent of what was possible with Java. Although it is likely that there are still applets in use today, over time they became less important. For reasons that will be explained, beginning with JDK 9, the phase-out of applets began, with applet support beginning with JDK 9, the phase-out of applets began, with applet support being removed by JDK 11.