Found this JavaCGI Bridge Presentation which based on a cursory read looks like an alternative to AJAX. The gist is this:
JavaCGIBridge Solution
CGI/Perl advantages
* CGI/Perl can provide database connectivity more easily
* Application related "business-rules" are centrally maintained and executed in CGI/Perl scripts
* Browsers that don't support Java can still use the application
* Leverage existing "legacy" CGI/Perl code
* Many Internet Service Providers only allow CGI/Perl access (no daemons)
Java advantages
* Java applet becomes a truly thin client
- only requires GUI code and GUI logic
- JavaCGIBridge class adds ~5k overhead
- No need to learn the entire Java class library.
- You can get by with AWT (Forms) and some utility classes
* Java applet can maintain state between all CGI script calls
* Java applet can cache retrieved data
- eliminates the need to constantly get redundant data from the server
Check the date of the presentation: 1997 :) !!
