While that may be true, the application is only one part of a smartcard implementation. In order to do anything meaningful with that application, you need to have a framework that enables you to communicate with the outside world and do some security stuff, however basic that may be.

The Javacard platform gives you that framework (well-designed, tried and tested!), so you don't have to worry about all that.
Just look at the example code in the link I gave, which is a very basic electronic purse. If you were to implement such a scheme from scratch, it would take you a lot of effort, no matter how experienced you are at programming whatever controller!
Now try adding some real cryptography ...


Rob.