SwingJS: Giving Java applets new life as JavaScript equivalents, applications to education and science

Abstract

Java applets for web applications have become outdated and clumsy, requiring the user-install of Java, updated security certificates, and use of specific, generally nonstandard, browsers. Hundreds of web sites depending upon such applets are no longer functional. By converting Java applets to JavaScript, we can regain the functionality of these valuable educational resources, returning these web pages to active service to education and science. We created SwingJS, a system to convert Java applets to JavaScript without need for extensive rewriting of the Java code or starting de novo. The JavaScript "applets" are created in parallel with standard Eclipse-based Java development, along with their Java counterparts simultaneously, in real time. The result is that we have the original functional Java applet or stand-alone application, and we have its virtually identical JavaScript counterpart, with all the layout and event-driven functionality of the original. Several important applications relevant to Chemistry and Physics, such as Jmol, JSpecView, Physlets, and PhET, were successfully converted.