New here...

[manumoi]

mini programs you are talking about may be applet... or just normal java programs that are started using java webstart... In order to be simple, webstart is a small program you can install on most of the existing operating system.s When you design a webpage and you want to launch a java application, you can tell webstart to launch a java application that was on a distant server using some methods that are maybe too complex for you now (webstart is fully discussed  on the sun microsystem website if you really want to study the full process)

But since you are new with java, i suggest you to forget such kind of topic right now.

PS: concerning emacs, here are the few commands i am using (i learnt to do macros but never really used it)

ALT-X compile : (to be able to write a command line... such as javac *.java inside the interface. Then click on enter for example --> compilation will be done in emacs (if the command is legal) and a buffer will be created to get error message

ctrl-s : search
ctrl-x ctrl-f : load
ctrl-x ctrl-s : save
ctrl-x ctrl-w : save as
ctrl-_ : undo

File are loaded in buffer with emacs. You can show more than one buffer on the screen at the same time. Useful to compare two different files by putting one next to the other But you can have multiple windows on different parts of the same file.
ctrl-x 2 : split the current buffer horizontally. Definetelly usefull...
ctrl-x 3 : split the current buffer vertically
ctrl-x 0 : cancel last split on the current buffer
ctrl-x 1 : set the current buffer as the only visible

tab : automatic indentation (very useful to identify syntax problems)

also find the option "syntax highlighting" in order to highlight files depending on the extension of the loaded file (.java will be highlighted in a different way as .c or .html ...) .
There are many other short cuts but those one are the only one i really used.
Emacs is no more than a text pad with some cool features (such as calling a compile command from inside the interface)...
If you are not fond of heavy interfaces and if can't bear vi (like me) , emacs is definetely for you... It also exists another version, xemacs, with more buttons, mouse controls and stuff like that

You can personalize emacs by adding config informations (such as the colors to use, the font..., pre loaded macros and options... ) Everything has to be put in a .emacs file.

That s it  :wink:

[Melssj5]

Basicly an applet is a java programm that runs on a browser but they run on the client side and have some security restrictions. To avoid problems for that reason, some people use web start that downloads and instakll the programm and then it runs. The good thing about this is that you can also put the required dlls for the hardware renderer on the package to be downloaded, but with applets you cant do it, at least not directly.

[cyberkilla]

Technically, an applet can run in any environment that implements an applet stub.

So you can actually run applets inside your own applications.

Ive did it before, but, making it an application in the first place was the more efficient option for me:P