AGLET VERSUS APPLET

The Java aglet extends the model of network-mobile code made famous by Java applets. Like an applet, the class files for an aglet can migrate across a network. But unlike applets, when an aglet migrates it also carries its state. An applet is code that can move across a network from a server to a client. An aglet is a running Java program (code and state) that can move from one host to another on a network. In addition, because an aglet carries its state wherever it goes, it can travel sequentially to many destinations on a network, including eventually returning back to its original host.
A Java aglet is similar to an applet in that it runs as a thread (or multiple threads) inside the context of a host Java application. To run applets, a Web browser fires off a Java application to host any applets it may encounter as the user browses from page to page. That application installs a security manager to enforce restrictions on the activities of any untrusted applets. To download an applet's class files, the application creates class loaders that know how to request class files from an HTTP server.
Likewise, an aglet requires a host Java application, an "aglet host" to be running on a computer before it can visit that computer. When aglets travel across a network, they migrate from one aglet host to another. Each aglet host installs a security manager to enforce restrictions on the activities of untrusted aglets. Hosts upload aglets through class loaders that know how to retrieve the class files and state of an aglet from a remote aglet host.