<World-Wide Web> (By analogy with "applet") A Java program
that runs as part of a network service, typically an HTTP
server 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".
