230 words on JSP
230 words on JSP
Java Server Pages (JSP) are to the Unix/Java world what Active Server Pages are to the Microsoft Windows/Visual Basic world, a way of embedding advanced functionality directly into Web pages.
On a modern JSP platform, the pages themselves are a gateway to a myriad of back-end functionalities. Because JSP has access to the entire universe of Java libraries and standards, a JSP application can gain access to LDAP through JNDI, XML through DOM and JDOM, SQL databases through JDBC, and so on.
Also, because JSP is a standard, it's easy to move applications from one platform to another. For example, you can begin to develop an application on Apache Tomcat, and move it to Websphere or iPlanet as needed without a major rewrite.
JSP also works in the enterprise setting when used as a part of J2EE. Using technologies such as Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), a JSP application can gain access to information stored throughout the enterprise.
In addition, powerful add-ons to JSP allow a developer to use the latest development techniques. For example, by using the Struts application framework, a Web application can take advantage of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern without having to start from scratch.
Finally, because most third-party e-Commerce vendors offering functionalities such as tax computation or credit-card handling have Java APIs, it's a breeze to integrate a JSP-based e-Commerce site for B2B or B2C transactions.