Guys... how would you describe Java servlets to a newbie, in a way that he fully understands what they are, why they are often used and why they are better than say "CGI scripts", without overwhelming them with technical terms?

I am asking this because I was assigned to make a presentation about Java servlets for a group of peers and the information on the internet is terrible and not noob-friendly at all. All the information that I've been able to find requires a lot of previous knowledge about Java, etc.

I understand that these are applications which run on a server side, mostly used for picking up and processing data entered in HTML forms.

But there's gotta be more to it than that... there's gotta be some story behind it? How have you come understand this concept, and how would you describe it in a few sentences to someone who is completely new to them (like a teacher has to explain to their students)?

Thank you so much!
Zannix