Swing provides a richer set of components than AWT. They are 100% Java-based. AWT on the other hand was developed with the mind set that if a component or capability of a component werent available on one platform, it wouldnt be available on any platform. Due to the peer-based nature of AWT, what might work on one implementation might not work on another, as the peer-integration might not be as robust. There are a few other advantages to Swing over AWT:

► Swing provides both additional components and added functionality to AWT-replacement components

► Swing components can change their appearance based on the current "look and feel" library that's being used.

► Swing components follow the Model-View-Controller (MVC) paradigm, and thus can provide a much more flexible UI.

► Swing provides "extras" for components, such as:

► Icons on many components

► Decorative borders for components

► Tool tips for components

► Swing components are lightweight (less resource intensive than AWT)

► Swing provides built-in double buffering

► Swing provides paint debugging support for when you build your own components

Swing also has a few disadvantages:

► It requires Java 2 or a separate JAR file

► If you're not very careful when programming, it can be slower than AWT (all components are drawn)

► Swing components that look like native components might not act exactly like native components