error in connecting to a local database (java)

Question

I am using xampp Control Panel v3.1.0 , I have imported a database to myphpadmin and i am trying to connect to my local database sam but i am not sure why i keep getting the following errors:

 java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver
        at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
        at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
        at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
        at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
        at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
        at system.DBConnector.connect(DBConnector.java:28)


public class DBConnector {
        public static final String URL = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/";
        public static final String DATABASE = "sam";
        public static final String DRIVER = "org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver";
        public static final String USERNAME = "";
        public static final String PASSWORD = "";
        private static Connection connection = null;
        private static Statement statement = null;
        private static PreparedStatement preparedStatement = null;
        private static ResultSet resultSet = null;

        /** Open database connection to a specified database */
        protected void connect() {
            try {
                Class.forName(DRIVER).newInstance();
                connection = DriverManager.getConnection(URL+DATABASE,USERNAME,PASSWORD);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }