Java is known primarily as a server-side programming environment, centered around the technologies that make up the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), such as Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), servlets, and JavaServer pages (JSPs). Early adopters of Java, however, will recall that it was originally promoted as a client-side application environment. In fact, Java was originally designed as a programming language for consumer appliances. Java returns to its roots with Java 2 Micro Edition, or J2ME, Sun Microsystems' answer to a consumer wireless device platform.

In J2ME, the Java runtime environment is adapted for constrained devices, such as a PDA, cellphone, smartphone or set-top box, that have limitations on what they can do when compared to standard desktop or server computers. For low-end devices, the constraints are fairly obvious: extremely limited memory, small screen sizes, alternative input methods, and slow processors. High-end devices have few, if any, of these constraints, but they can still benefit from the optimized environments and programming interfaces that J2ME defines.

For more on J2ME , see the full developer.com article.