Java servlet

World-Wide Web (By analogy with "applet") A Java program

that runs as part of a network service, typically an HTTPserver and responds to requests from clients.

The most common use for a servlet is to extend a web server

by generating web content dynamically. For example, a

client may need information from a database; a servlet

can be written that receives the request, gets and processes

the data as needed by the client and then returns the result

to the client.

Applets are also written in Java but run inside the JVM

of a HTML browser on the client. Servlets and applets

allow the server and client to be extended in a modular way by

dynamically loading code which communicates with the main

program via a standard programming interface.

Servlets are more flexible than CGI scripts and, being

written in Java, more portable.

The spelling "servelet" is occasionally seen but JavaSoft

spell it "servlet". There is no such thing as a "serverlet".

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(2002-10-06)