13 Facts About Java applets

Java applets were small applications written in the Java programming language, or another programming language that compiles to Java bytecode, and delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode.

Java applets were introduced in the first version of the Java language, which was released in 1995.

Java applets were usually written in Java, but other languages such as Jython, JRuby, Pascal, Scala, NetRexx, or Eiffel could be used as well.

Java applets run at very fast speeds and until 2011, they were many times faster than JavaScript.

Unlike JavaScript, Java applets had access to 3D hardware acceleration, making them well-suited for non-trivial, computation-intensive visualizations.

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Since Java bytecode is cross-platform, Java applets could be executed by clients for many platforms, including Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, Unix, macOS and Linux.

However, Java applets have very little control over web page content outside the applet's dedicated area, so they are less useful for improving the site appearance in general, unlike other types of browser extensions .

Java applets Web Start allowed the launching of unmodified applet code, which then ran in a separate window .

Java applets had the following disadvantages compared to other client-side web technologies:.

Sun sued for breach of trademark, as the point of Java applets was that there should be no proprietary extensions and that code should work everywhere.

Limits on unsigned Java applets were understood as "draconian": they have no access to the local filesystem and web access limited to the applet download site; there are many other important restrictions.

Some studies mention Java applets crashing the browser or overusing CPU resources but these are classified as nuisances and not as true security flaws.

Consequently, developers who wish to deploy Java applets have no alternative but to acquire trusted certificates from commercial sources.