JavaBeans

In computing based on the Java Platform, JavaBeans is a technology developed by Sun Microsystems and released in 1996, as part of JDK 1.1.

The 'beans' of JavaBeans are classes that encapsulate one or more objects into a single standardized object (the bean). This standardization allows the beans to be handled in a more generic fashion, allowing easier code reuse and introspection. This in turn allows the beans to be treated as software components, and to be manipulated visually by editors and IDEs without needing any initial configuration, or to know any internal implementation details.

As part of the standardization, all beans must be serializable, have a zero-argument constructor, and allow access to properties using getter and setter methods.