A container is a component which can contain other components
inside itself. It is also an instance of a subclass of
java.awt.Container
. java.awt.Container
extends
java.awt.Component
so containers are themselves
components.
In general components are contained in a container. An applet is a container. Other containers include windows, frames, dialogs, and panels. Containers may contain other containers.
Every container has a LayoutManager
that determines
how different components are positioned within the container.
In short containers contain components. Components are
positioned inside the container according to a LayoutManager
. Since
containers are themselves components, containers may by placed
inside other containers. This is really a lot simpler than it
sounds. Applets provide a ready-made container and a default
LayoutManager
, a FlowLayout
.