How to begin with Java Server Side technologies?

Question

I have good knowledge of PHP. But I also want to learn technologies like JSP. I have installed Apache Tomcat 6.0 and Eclipse JEE.

I was looking for JSP tutorials on Google and found that there are several things like JSP, Servlets, Struts, EJB, JSF, etc. I have heard a lot about Struts and JSF that they are very good.

I want to know in what order should I start learning these technologies. (I have good knowledge of Core Java)

Answer 1

You might want to start off by learning the basics of Servlets and JSP. Those are the building blocks for web application frameworks.

I wouldn't spend too much time on Servlets beyond an understanding of how they generally work. Most of the heavy lifting is done by web app frameworks these days.

Once you're familiar with the basics of how Java serves things up as a web page, move on to more sophisticated frameworks such as JSF, Spring Web MVC or Struts. These frameworks all utilize the MVC design pattern, which you may have used with PHP frameworks (if not, it's a very good principle to learn). All of those projects are well-documented and have a sizable community.

As a note, I feel that JSF has a steeper learning curve than either Spring or Struts. If you are that interested in JSF, I recommend looking into the Seam framework, which utilizes JSF but also somewhat simplifies its use. You can learn JSF+Seam concurrently.

As for books... for JSF, I like Core JavaServer Faces. For Spring, I like Spring in Action.

Answer 2

Start with JSP/Servlet first and then pick a MVC framework which is built on top of Servlet API.

To learn JSP/Servlet, I can highly recommend the Marty Hall's Coreservlets.com tutorials, or the Head First Servlets & JSP book (just as any of the very same authors Bates & Sierra; their books just reads away very pleasant).

When having a good grasp on JSP/Servlet, then just choose either of those existing MVC/web frameworks based on Servlet API to continue with. You have Sun JSF, Apache Struts, Spring MVC and more.

Here are other topics related to the same question:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1958808/java-web-development-what-skills-do-i-need
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/java+web-development+learning
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/java+web-development+beginner

Answer 3

I would recommend you Head first Servlet and JSP this fantastic book gives you kick start for JSP and Servlet with the Server side knowledge very perfectly.

Head First Servlets and JSP

Answer 4

Try http://www.hybridserverpages.com/

It is a very simple technology all described on less than ten web pages. There are only two things you have to know: Java and HTML. It is based on Servlet API but completely hides it below a much more convenient pages and components.