servlet

A Java application that runs on a server and processes server-side requests, usually to access a database or perform an e-commerce transaction. Servlets replace CGI scripts, Active Server Pages (ASPs), and proprietary plugins (written in C and C++ for specific Web servers such as ISAPI and NSAPI).

For example, servlets take advantage of the server's direct network access to business resources like databases, and they can therefore handle activities that shouldn't be performed by an applet running on the customer's computers. (These activities include managing shopping carts and customer accounts, validating credit cards, performing security authentication, and extracting information from databases using JDBC.) With servlets and Java Server Pages, Java began its transition from a novelty to an e-business technology.