< 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".
http://java.sun.com/products/servlet/ .
(2002-10-06)