..

Applets are a bad place to start learning Java.
They have devlopment quirks and deployment
challenges that go beyond the knowledge needed
to write applications.

Add an ActionListener.
<http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/events/intro.html>

Note also that there is a group more suited to GUI's
<http://www.physci.org/codes/javafaq.html#g>
And another group better suited to people who
are beginning to learn Java.
<http://www.physci.org/codes/javafaq.html#h>

HTH

The simplest solution (although not the best design) would be to have
your view ("GUI", which I guess is a JFrame) be an ActionListener as
well. Bellow follows a sketch of the idea.

I hope it helps,
Faton Berisha

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class MyFrame extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{ private JButton[] button; // the 16 buttons
 //...
 public MyFrame()
 {
   // ... Here you probably instantiate your buttons,
   //     initialize you fields,
   //     set visible the frame
   //     ...
 }

 public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
 {
   if ( e.getSource() == button[1] )
   {
     // ... Do whatever you want button[1] to do when pressed
   }
   else if ( e.getSource() == button[2] )
   {
      // ... button[2] action listener ...
   }
   // else if ...
 }
}