A
Java applet is a
small application which is written in Java and delivered to users in the form of
bytecode. The user launches the Java applet from a
web page, and the applet is then executed within a
Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in a
process separate from the
web browser itself. A Java applet can appear in a frame of the web page, a new application window,
Sun's
AppletViewer, or a stand-alone tool for testing applets. Java applets were introduced in the first version of the Java language, which was released in 1995.