Route to study Java EE and associated technology?

Question

I am an undergraduate student with knowledge of core Java. I want to learn Java EE and related technology for my final year major project and career prospect. what are the Prerequisites for Java EE?

I and my friend have done some research on this matter. We found that we need to know about Servlets, JSP, Javabeans, RMI, etc. We have basic knowledge about these topics. Can we start learning Java EE?

We also found that using framework like Struts or Spring etc will have additional advantage to our software. As per my opinion I should use lightweight framework instead of enterprise framework like spring. can we use these framework in small projects? If no, then what is a better approach/framework?

Our project is a collaboration software for managing code development for open source software development.Project is of Distributed nature.

Answer 1

Yes. The official Oracle tutorial is at http://download.oracle.com/javaee/6/tutorial/doc/

I would suggest that you initially keep it as simple as you can. Java EE is big enough that doing a project just with core technologies will keep you quite busy.

Answer 2

what are the Prerequisites for java EE??

Strong knowledge of Java SE, especially JDBC. Good object-oriented design and programming skills.

can we start learning java ee ?

Of course.

As per my opinion i should use lightweight framework instead of ENTERPRISE framework like spring.

I don't know what "lightweight" means to you, but Spring was created as a lightweight alternative to EJB 2.0. You can certainly start learning Spring, but perhaps you'll appreciate it more after you've done at least one web project without it.

I don't recommend Struts. I think it's an older technology - the first web MVC framework - that's been bypassed by others. I'd recommend Spring MVC or Wicket over Struts. If you want to stick with the Java EE standard, try Java Server Faces.

can we use these framework in small projects?

You can use Spring in any sized project. You don't even have to write the entire project using Spring to gain advantage from it.

if no then what is a better approach/framework?

Start without any framework. Servlets, JSPs using JSTL (no scriptlets) and JDBC are sufficient to start.

our project is a collaboration software for managing code development for open source software development.Project is of Distributed nature.

Collaboration and management of projects have nothing at all to do with your choice of language or framework.

Is the application distributed, the developers, or both? Choice of language or framework have almost nothing to do with it.

Answer 3

I would suggest you learn Ruby + RubyOnRails. It's far more easier and productive than any Java framework you can get. The advantage of this approach would be: you'll have one more powerful mainstream language in your arsenal, and you'd also learn a very powerful web framework which is considered a state-of-the-art framework in the web world.

If you are interested in following this approach, retag your question with ruby-on-rails to receive valuable inputs from other Rubyists.

Hope that helps,
Aai Zhavli.