Class Downloads
Another issue when using applets is
the number and size of the support classes that a client needs to run
the applet. In the case of the WhiteboardApplet
described earlier, in addition to its own class file, the applet
needs to download the following support classes:
MsgWhiteboardUser
Collaborator
MessageCollaborator
MessageHandler
Message
In the version of the JDK we used to compile these classes into Java
bytecodes, the total size of the class files, including the
WhiteboardApplet
, is a little less than 20Kb.
This is downloadable in around 7 seconds on a 28.8 Kbit/s
modem—not bad at all. If the support classes for our applet are
extensive, we have the option of providing them on the web server
compressed in a .jar file or a
.zip file, whichever one we think most of the
client browsers will support.
Get Java Distributed Computing now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.