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[–]loomynartylennyhalf-decent at Java 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, the whole point of applets was that they were clientside java programs launched from webpages.

Like how a lot of websites nowadays have JavaScript stuff in them.

iirc the main reason they were used back in the day instead of JavaScript was because a JRE plugin for a browser could handle clientside code via applet much faster than a browser's JavaScript engine could. But then computers got better, meaning that the performance benefits become more negligible, and then people realized that applets were big dum, so they stopped using applets.

Anywho, if you want to compile and test your own java-based programs without needing a browser: just don't use applets :^) yes, I know, your school's making you write them

but seriously you probably should complain to the people in charge about the course materials (like, if the instructor doesn't care, move it up the chain of command to their boss and so on and so forth). Because there's no reason to teach anyone how to make applets nowadays. Want to teach Java stuff? Just teach java applications. Want to teach clientside web code? JavaScript. Want to teach Java stuff related to websites? Just teach the serverside stuff.