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ratory as if it was there. Here, the user interface comes in, which is usually repre-
sented by a web page. The way in which the page is made and what it will allow the
user to do, has a great impact on the learning and understanding of the processes that
take place in the real laboratory.
For developing the the remote and virtual laboratories user interfaces we use Java.
The software development is nowadays one of the most extended domanins, and
sure, the most dynamic. In such a dynamic environment as IT, time is essential, and
this can be notices in the general IT marked trends over the world. Everybody wants
better productivity when it comes to developing software, which is basically trans-
lated into obtaining similar products over a significantly shorter period of time.
The answer to better software development productivity is Java because the many
features it encapsulates frees the programmer from a lot of work, when compared, for
instance, with C++.
In client applications the execution speed is not the most important factor, but in-
stead, the portability is a very important issue. As Java is build to be portable, this
meaning that the same Java application, written and compiled o a specific operating
system, will be able to run on other operating systems without any changes - a great
advantage.
So, we have decided to use Java as development tool for the follwing main rea-
sons: it is suitable for web-based applications, it is portable and it allows much better
productivity, along with developing robust applications.
2 The Java language
Sun Microsystems describes Java as a "simple, object-oriented, interpreted, robust,
safe, architecture independent, portable, high performance, multithreaded and dy-
namic" programming language.
Each feature mentioned above is an important part of the Java programming lan-
guage, as well as a critical request for web programming. The combination between
these features makes Java a powerful and useful programming language that supplies
the programmer with the tools he needs to easy create powerful programs for the
distributed applications environments of today.
On the Internet, the Java programs are called applets. The applets are Java applica-
tions that are embedded into HTML web pages and can be loaded into a Java capable
web browser, at a click of the mouse.
Before the browser's Java runtime interpreter loads and executes the applet code, it
checks the code for integrity. Java is more than a simple tool for writing applets. It is
a new and powerful programming language.
Now, the software companies clients ask for shorter development time, competi-
tive products, scalable and portable. The speed problems are no longer a prime con-
cern for software programmers or users. The hardware evolution eliminated the con-
cern for system resources, pointing the consideration towards quality and capability.
Because of it's extended portability and easy programming, Java is the optimal
choice when developing client applications. Although Java programs are slightly
slower than C++ programs and have some disadvantages concerning the use of plat-
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