Reusable Java components for physics education
John R. Cary, D. M. Alexander, Kevin Zollman, Dean A. Zollman · Computers in Physics · 1998
T he Java programming language 1 ,2 enables the develop- ment of interactive, platform-independent educational content that is downloadable from the W orld Wide Web.A Java applet (small application) is compiled into bytecode and downloaded from a Web server to a student's computer, where it is executed.Client-side execution allows Java applets to be interactive.Previously, interactivity was provided through forms and the Common Gateway Interface.This method was too slow, as it involved submitting the c1ient's request over the Internet, retuming the data from the server to the c1ient, and rendering the data locally.Java applets are not hindered by the delays associated with network transfers.Applets respond.immediately to mouse c1icks and keystrokes.Furthermore, a Java applet can be executed on a student' s computer by the browser-enabled Java Virtual Machine regardless of whether the student is working under Windows, MacOS, some flavor of Unix, or any of several other operating systems.With this advance in interactivity,