Beans

[llemes4011]

What are beans? I've seen references to them, but when looking up an explanation, I always get lost and confused.....

[JamesCherrill]

Bean is short for JavaBean. The Wikipedia entry is a good place to start.
Its a java class that conforms to some simple conventions (especially: uses standard get/set methods for its variables, and can be serialised) that enable it to be used in a plug-n-play kind of way to build applications.