Hi
This info i took from a web site and from the
java tutorial
Differences
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Basically, an applet runs in a browser, loaded from an APPLET tag in an HTML file. The browser than calls applet life-cycle methods like start(), stop(), init(), and destroy() as needed. There are security restrictions an applet must abide by.
An application is started from the command line (java command) and starts with the main() method. There are no life-cycle methods which are automatically called within an application, nor are there security restrictions (by default).
In an applet and an application with a Frame/Window, the paint() method is automatically called to update the screen.
What Applets Can and Can't Do
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Security Restrictions
Current browsers impose the following restrictions on any applet that is loaded over the network:
An applet cannot load libraries or define native methods.
It cannot ordinarily read or write files on the host that's executing it.
It cannot make network connections except to the host that it came from.
It cannot start any program on the host that's executing it.
It cannot read certain system properties.
Windows that an applet brings up look different than windows that an application brings up.
Each browser has a SecurityManager object that implements its security policies. When a SecurityManager detects a violation, it throws a SecurityException. Your applet can catch this SecurityException and react appropriately.
Applet Capabilities
The java.applet package provides an API that gives applets some capabilities that applications don't have. For example, applets can play sounds, which other programs can't do yet.
Here are some other things that current browers and other applet viewers let applets do:
Applets can usually make network connections to the host they came from.
Applets running within a Web browser can easily cause HTML documents to be displayed.
Applets can invoke public methods of other applets on the same page.
Applets that are loaded from the local file system (from a directory in the user's CLASSPATH) have none of the restrictions that applets loaded over the network do.
Although most applets stop running once you leave their page, they don't have to.
Surya
