Java is an object-oriented language, so its instructions (source code) come in the form of classes. To execute Java in a database, you write the Java instructions outside the database and compile them outside the database into compiled classes (byte code), which are binary files holding Java instructions.

You then install these compiled classes into a database. Once installed, you can execute these classes from the database server as a stored procedure. For example, the following statement creates the interface to a Java procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE insertfix()
EXTERNAL NAME 'JDBCExample.InsertFixed()V' 
LANGUAGE JAVA;

SQL Anywhere facilitates a runtime environment for Java classes, not a Java development environment. You need a Java development environment, such as the Sun Microsystems Java Development Kit, to write and compile Java. You also need a Java Runtime Environment to execute Java classes.

For more information, see Installing Java classes into a database.