Java Mail API - Introduction

In this tutorials we are going to see introduction about Java Mail API.The Java Mail API used to send email programmatically.Java Mail API is platform and protocol independent API for sending and receiving email programmatically

Java Mail API Protocols

SMTP
POP
IMAP
MIME
NNTP , etc..,

SMTP

SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer protocol.It is used to deliver email, lot of mail server available for sending email but most of host provider provide SMTP as default mail server.The SMTP required authentication to send and receive email.

POP

POP – Post Office Protocol, commonly known as POP3.It is used to receive email.POP3 used to configure individual mail box for each user.It defined in RFC 1939

IMAP

IMAP – Internet Mail Access Protocol.It also used for receiving email.It is advanced protocol compare to POP3,It provides multiple mail box for each user and also mail box can be shared between multiple user.Its defined in RFC 2060

MIME

MIME – Multiple Internet Mail Extension, tells the browser what is being sent in email like attachment, format of email message, etc..,

Other protocols

NNTP – Network News Transfer Protocol

S/MIME – Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension

How to send and receive email using these protocols in upcoming chapters.