Java Servlet Programming: Help for Server Side Java Developers (Java (O'Reilly)) - Softcover

Besides a useful guide to APIs, the book looks at a variety of techniques for saving session state, as well as showing how Servlets can work together to power Web sites. You will learn performance tips and ways to get Servlets to work together (like forwarding and redirection), plus the basics of database programming with JDBC, to build content with "live" data. A later chapter examines what's next for Servlets with the emerging Servlet 2.3 API standard. Importantly, the authors go over deploying and configuring Web applications by editing XML files, a must-have for successfully running Servlets in real applications.

Since the first edition of this title, the choices for Java Web developers have grown much richer. Many of the new chapters in this edition look at options beyond Servlets. Short sections on application frameworks such as Tea, WebMacro, the Element Construction Set (ECS), XMLC, and JavaServer Pages (JSP) let you explore what's out there for Java developers today with a survey of some current tools that can speed up creating new Web applications.

The text closes with reference sections on Servlet APIs (and other material) that will be useful for any working developer. Although Servlets are not the only game in town, they are still important tools for successful Web development. This updated edition shows you just how to do it with plenty of basic and advanced tips for taking full advantage of this powerful Java standard. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Overview and history of Java Servlets
• Fundamentals of HTTP
• Web applications (including deployment and configuration using XML files)
• The Servlet lifecycle (initializing, processing requests, cleanup, and caching)
• Multimedia content (images and compressed content)
• WAP and WML for wireless content
• Servlet session tracking techniques (hidden form fields, cookies, and URL rewriting)
• Security issues with Servlets (including certificates and SSL)
• Tutorial for JDBC and Java database programming
• Using applets and Servlets together
• Servlet collaboration
• Quick introduction to Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
• Internationalization issues
• Survey of third-party Servlet application frameworks and tools: Tea, WebMacro, the Element Contruction Set (ECS), XMLC, and JavaServer Pages (JSP)
• Miscellaneous tips for Servlets (including sending e-mail and using regular expressions)
• Description of the new Servlet 2.3 API spec
• Servlet API quick reference

Jason Hunter is Senior Technologist with CollabNet, a company that provides tools and services for open source style collaboration. In addition to authoring Java Servlet Programming, he is publisher of Servlets.com, creator of the com.oreilly.servlet library, a contributor to the Apache Jakarta project that creates Tomcat (starting on the project when it was still Sun internal), a member of the expert groups responsible for Servlet/JSP and JAXP API development, and he holds a seat on the JCP Executive Committee overseeing the Java platform, as a representative of the Apache Software Foundation. He also writes columns for JavaWorld, and speaks at many programming and open source conferences. Most recently he co-created the open source JDOM library to enable optimized Java and XML integration, and he leads the expert group responsible for JDOM development. Jason graduated summa cum laude from Willamette University (Salem, Oregon) in 1995 with a degree in computer science. He began programming in Java in the summer of 1995 and has been involved with servlets and related server-side technologies since December 1996. If by some miracle you don't find him at work, he's probably out hiking in the mountains.

William Crawford has been developing web-based enterprise applications since 1995, including one of the first web-based electronic medical record systems (at Children's Hospital in Boston) and some of the first enterprise-level uses of Java. He has consulted for a variety of institutional clients, including Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical Center, numerous startups and several Fortune 500 companies. Prior to an acquisition he was CTO of Invantage, Incorporated in Cambridge, MA. He received a degree in history and economics from Yale University. He is the co-author of Java Servlet Programming, 2nd Edition, Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition, and two forthcoming O'Reilly titles. Will is currently Principal Software Architect at Perceptive Informatics, Inc.Massachusetts, provider of software and services to the pharmaceutical industry. He can be reached at http://www.williamcrawford.info