Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT)
The Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) is the original GUI toolkit for Java. It has been enhanced since it was originally introduced, but the basic structure remains the same. The AWT includes the following items:
| A wide range of user interface components, represented by Java classes such as [java.awt.] Frame, Button, Label, Menu, and TextArea.
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| An event-handling model to deal with events such as button clicks, menu choices, and mouse operations.
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| Classes to deal with graphics and image processing.
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| Layout manager classes to help with positioning components in a GUI.
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| Support for drag-and-drop functionality in GUI applications.
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The AWT is implemented natively for each platform's JVM. AWT interfaces typically perform relatively quickly and have the same look-and-feel as the operating system, but the range of GUI components that can be used is limited to the lowest common denominator of operating system components, and the look-and-feel cannot be changed.
More information about the AWT can be found at:
http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/awt/