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As a veteran of applet development (see credentials below), I think it is high time to make a call that teachers should stop teaching applets in general, & especially AWT based applets. Applets are an advanced and specialized type of app. that has little place in the real world around us (most things that are done by applets can instead be better achieved using Javascript and HTML 5).
It saddens me to see new students ‘tossed in at the deep end’ to learn how to make an applet.
The reasons are multiple, but first, I’ll look a little at the history of applets and why applets were ever considered a good idea for teaching small, simple projects.
Applet vs. Frame
The simplest applet is:
import java.applet.Applet; import java.awt.Label; public class HelloWorldApplet extends Applet { @Override public void init() { add(new Label("Hello World!")); } }
Looks simple, right? This hints at the primary reason that applets were taught.
It only takes a handful of code lines to see the end result.
But an applet gets a size & position on screen from the HTML that loads it. So an applet also requires a little HTML E.G.
<html> <body> <applet code=HelloWorldApplet width=400 height=200> </applet> </body> </html>
This makes the total for a working applet 17 LOC. Not looking quite so simple now. Worse, many developers think ‘any old mark-up will do’ when that is very much not the case. Missing opening or closing elements make the HTML invalid and how a browser will interpret it is anyone’s guess.
Compare that to an application that behaves in as smooth a manner:
import java.awt.Label; import java.awt.Frame;
public class HelloWorldApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) { Frame f = new Frame(); f.add(new Label("Hello World!")); f.pack(); f.setVisible(true); } }
So, while it takes just 9 lines of code for the simplest of
applets (even including the @Override notation), while 12 LOC for
the application doing the same thing, add the HTML and it becomes
17 lines for applet/HTML vs. just 12 LOC for the application.
AWT vs Swing
Time moves on, and the Swing component toolkit was introduced as a replacement for AWT. Nobody uses AWT anymore. Most Java GUI developers started using Swing, and those that have used AWT have largely forgotten the finer details.
This is relevant to the student in terms of getting help when they get stuck. It does not matter who we are, when approaching new areas of CS, we all tend to reach for whatever resources might help us understand the new technology. For a student the best resources are firstly the text books and class notes, but those typically only go so far at explaining, and the rest is from things like the JavaDocs, the Java Tutorial, searching the net, or asking for clarification on forums.
Those last two are particularly relevant in that:
- There is a slew of extremely poor AWT based code available on the net.
- There may also be some poor Swing based code out there, but usually there is a Swing programmer nearby that can point out the deficiencies in it.
Industry uses Swing and that is all that Swing programmers know and remember. AWT is obsolete, and a dead end in career or learning.
So let’s now look at the proper way to write a Swing applet & application. The Java Tutorial warns us that all Swing code should be started and updated on the Event Dispatch Thread, which (ironically) is an AWT based Thread.
A simple Swing applet might then be:
import javax.swing.JApplet; import javax.swing.JLabel; import javax.swing.SwingUtilities; import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
public class HelloWorldApplet extends JApplet {
@Override public void init() {
@Override Runnable r = new Runnable() { public void run() { add(new JLabel("Hello World!")); } }; try { SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(r); } catch(InterruptedException ie) { ie.printStackTrace(); } catch (InvocationTargetException ite) { ite.printStackTrace(); }} }
This is slightly verbose (25 LOC) for strict clarity, but could be reduced to:
import javax.swing.*;
public class HelloWorldApplet extends JApplet {
@Override public void init() { Runnable r = new Runnable() {
@Override public void run() { add(new JLabel("Hello World!")); } }; try { SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(r); } catch(Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); }} }
It could be further shortened (from 20 LOC) by declaring the Runnable inside the
SwingUtilities method call, but I find that notation to be confusing &
prefer to separate the Runnable into a clearly defined instance.
And now the Swing equivalent application, using the same ‘short guidelines’.
import javax.swing.*;
public class HelloWorldApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) { Runnable r = new Runnable() {
@Override public void run() { JFrame f = new JFrame(); f.add(new JLabel("Hello World!")); f.pack(); f.setVisible(true); } }; SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);} }
Just 18 LOC in total.
Not very much coding to see our simple message on screen, in a free floating Swing component.
Embedded vs. not embedded
Security
Why won’t the applet load my input file?
By default, Java applets run in a security sand-box that prohibits many actions which might be damaging to other applets, the browser or the user’s machine.
While the security sand-box is of great benefit to end-users, it makes the life of the developer difficult. And it has just become that much more difficult in Java 7 update 21.
In Java 7 Update 21 Security Improvements in Detail Markus Eisele notes:
With the introduced changes it is most likely that no end-user is able to run your application when they are either self-signed or unsigned.
While that warning is a little extreme, I agree with the underlying point being made. A user (or in this case you, the teacher) will need to OK some very scary dialogs, and possibly lower the default Java security to an unsafe level, before being able to view an applet.
Error reporting
My applet is broken but shows no errors! Where are they?
The System.err stream used for displaying stack traces appears on the command line (or in the IDE) when running an application. When a stack trace occurs in an applet it is sent to the Java Console, which is (by default) not configured to be shown.
Class caching
I changed my applet but the browser shows the same!
Many times I have responded to applet problems where the questioner swears they have changed the code & recompiled it, yet the browser is still showing the old values. The solution is relatively simple when you know how – flush the class cache from the Java Console. To someone learning, it is typically a complete mystery.
Embedded conclusion
Those 3 problems alone have probably earned me a quarter of the reputation points I’ve so far gained for applets on Stack Overflow. They pose huge problems when developing and debugging applets.
Conclusion
The question really comes down to:
Are you teaching Java/CS or how to deploy applets?
If the former, use JFrame based applications and side-step all the
problems that are inherent to an embedded app. And don’t even consider
teaching AWT components – they are obsolete & Swing takes only a few
more LOC to get something on-screen.
Author Credentials
So who am I?
- Top ranked provider of answers on Stack Overflow for the applet tag.
- The developer of Appleteer.
- Host of many applets on my site.
Filed under New Programmers Programmers Software Development
Nit, but in credentials you’re linking to the swing tag, not applet.
While I don’t think teachers should only teach what industry is using, it should definitely NOT base the coursework on things that industry is NO LONGER using. Good solid post.
I kinda thought Swing was obsolete too. 🙂 (disclaimer: not actively doing any Java development atm.)
It would be even better to wait for Java -> asm.js alternative. This way it will be possible to use a proper language as well.
@Dan Thanks for the heads-up. Link changed.
Yes its time to move off applets. I suggest students express visualizations using WebGL.
GUIs were never a topic in my Computer Science education. I don’t think an applet or the GUI potential of a language is even a consideration for colleges and university professors of Computer Science. This argument may however be valid for a Software Engineering degree that focuses on preparing you for the business world.
I think its fine to learn theory using an applet. Even outdated ones. Can use the applet viewer over html and I think its not so deep : cache, bad design, more than 2 lines to get things done right are all part of software, from a business or academic view.
Though I would suggest that they start with swing apps, I would encourage teachers to give some boiler plate code to start off with.
The code examples are missing syntax highlighting and proper indenting.
@JanusTroelsen Unfortunately code formatting does not work on the blog, indentation is lost or distorted and it seems impossible to rid code segments of those blank lines. 🙁
You have chosen a really dangerous title for that article! Teachers should not stop teaching applet technology. If you are a java teacher, you cannot leave out a technology, otherwise you are not a good teacher! I recommend strongly to teach applets in their basics and show clearly when to use this technology. You cannot say “Throw applets away”! I’m a programmer at a university and we pointed out, that we have our good reasons to use them. So I would say my java teacher was a very bad teacher, if left out a chapter!
I’m really sad to say, but unfortunately, there is a trend to propagate such rigid opinions and i hat it 🙁
@JanusTroelsen See also http://programmers.stackexchange.com/q/14745/32631 for the formatted version.
I saved this blog entry months ago for a time when I was better prepared to understand it. I’m back, with a few questions.
I thought Applets were a way to get Java code to display inside a browser. Is there an alternative to this? Eliminating the use of Applets does not really solve the problem of “how to get this program onto a website.”
If there is no alternative(besides rewriting a program in JavaScript), then are you merely suggesting teachers shouldn’t require students create applets to test code as they learn?
In short, I’m wondering what is the recommended way to publish programs to a web page or create web applications if not with Applets.
Most cute/pretty applets I have seen would be better done as JS + the HTML 5 canvas. Most other applets could be done using HTML forms for input and JS for communicating with the server side.
That type of non-applet functionality would not suffer from most of the problems that plague applets. E.G.
– security concerns with the plug-in
– lack of availability of the required minimum version of the plug-in
– problems with the interaction between the browser & JVM
– accessibility problems in navigating the elements of the web page using the keyboard
– ..
Very nice article. I’m rereading it to get some clues how to do what I’m trying to do. I’m an old-time programmer of 30 years -but- new to the Web/Java/Eclipse combination. (I’ve been in .net c# lately).
I want to host a web page that makes use of a 3rd party Java library (presented in a .jar file). In the general case, what architecture should I be using to accomplish this? All I’m finding to execute client-side Java is the .
Joe
From Andrew: Most other applets could be done using HTML forms for input and JS for communicating with the server side.
Can I use HTML forms for input and java server pages? Instead of my failing applet. (You recently responded to my stackoverflow question regarding my JList not showing values from REST based third party program, when I run applet.)
i use java applet to play notes on a website. without applet, how do you do it with js + html5?
An additional point I thought I would add is that the element is deprecated in HTML5. The W3C lists the applet element along with others in a list that states
“Elements in the following list are entirely obsolete, and must not be used by authors”
http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/obsolete.html#non-conforming-features
Correct me if I am wrong here, but wasn’t the whole point of Applets to be able to embed them into HTML.
Pardon the punctuation error at the end of my comment. I intended to use a question mark and am now unable to edit my comment.
Also as of 2016, the applet plugin will no longer be supported. Java Plugin support deprecated and Moving to a Plugin-Free Web