Although Java applets demonstrated a new way to think about software delivery and use, they brought with them some new constraints on software size, structure, and security. This article takes a look at Marimba Castanet, one company's approach to dealing with the constraints imposed by applets.

All Java programs are compiled into class files that contain bytecodes, the machine language of the Java virtual machine. This article takes a look at the bytecodes that implement the logical and integer arithmetic capabilities of Java.

All Java programs are compiled into class files which contain bytecodes, the machine language of the Java virtual machine. This article takes a look at the bytecodes that implement the floating-point capabilities of Java.

All Java programs are compiled into class files that contain bytecodes, the machine language of the Java virtual machine. Here's a first look at Java's bytecodes.

A key feature of Java is its garbage-collected heap, which takes care of freeing dynamically allocated memory that is no longer referenced. Because the heap is garbage-collected, Java programmers don't have to explicitly free allocated memory. Here's a hands-on introduction to Java's garbage-collected heap.

A key component of Java is the Java class file -- a precisely defined file format to which Java programs are compiled. The class file can be loaded by any Java Virtual Machine implementation and is the vehicle for the transmission of compiled Java across networks. Here's a hands-on introduction to the Java class file.

A key component of Java is the Java Virtual Machine -- a virtual computer, typically implemented in software on top of a "real" hardware platform and operating system, that runs compiled Java programs. This article is a hands-on introduction to the JVM.