JSPs/Servlets in This Class

• For the most part, we get to re-use a lot of what we already know about Java.
• Servlets are simply Java classes that output HTML.
• Think of it this way.  Imagine writing HTML in your System.out.println() statements.  That's pretty much all we are doing.
• There is more to know about Servlets, but the basics aren't that difficult.  As a matter of fact, you can let Forte' generate the source code, and all you have to do is put the HTML in a method!
• The drawback: all of those darn print statements.
• JSPs are a little different.
• You still use Java, but you use it in an HTML page.
• If you're more comfortable with HTML and you don't want to write all of the print statements, you might want to use JSPs.
• The end result is the same.  JSPs compile into Servlets!
• The drawback: your presentation and logic are together.  Thus, your graphics people and programmers mess up each others' work.
• Not very object oriented.
• Then came tags.
• Tags allow you to put your logic in Java classes, and have the output generated via custom tags in the JSP.
• A nice solution.
• The drawback: you have to learn some new skills for this, and you have to mess with configuration files.
• Then came Struts.
• Struts is a framework that uses all of the above and puts it in a Model-View-Controller design.
• It is developed by Apache, the same folks who gave us Tomcat.
• Very object oriented.
• Again, a big learning curve.
• This is becoming very popular.  We're adopting it at the bank.  We probably will not have time to cover it in class, though...

Created by:  Brandan Jones December 17, 2001