7. To be continued...
We have provided enough information in this document to get started with Java web programming. Some topics have only been touched upon and deserve further exploration:
- XML (eXtended Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and XSL (eXtended Stylesheet Language)
We have covered these topics, but much remains to be done. Together, they deserve a handout.
- Javascript
We have used a few Javascript scripts here and there that are executed by the browser without ever dwelling on them. For example, we have never gone into the details of the Javascript language. Due to lack of space and time. This language, too, could require a book of its own. We have included three significant examples in javascript in the appendix, again without explaining them. Nevertheless, they are understandable simply by reading their comments and can serve as examples.
- JavaBeans, JSP tags
We have shown how we can separate Java code and HTML code in a web application. The Java code is grouped into one or more servlets, and the HTML code into one or more JSP pages. However, in our examples, there were often a few lines of Java code remaining in the JSP pages. We can improve this by using components called Java beans and predefined or custom JSP tags (tag extensions). This aspect of JSP pages is not essential (we managed just fine without it in our realistic examples) but is nevertheless useful to know.
- Enterprise Java Beans (EJB)
EJB components are provided by the containers in which JSP servlets and pages run. They provide "system" services that save developers from having to undertake lengthy and complex development work. The services provided by EJB may cover the following areas: transactions, security, database connection pooling, etc.
All these topics, not covered here, are excellently addressed in the book "J2EE Programming" published by WROX and distributed by Eyrolles.