Java Web Fundamentals
by Kevin Jones
To build web applications in Java, you need to understand the libraries and concepts that underly the higher level frameworks, and this course helps you to do that. The course covers writing a web application in Java using Servlets, JavaServer Pages, and tag libraries.
What you'll learn
Many Java web frameworks, such as Struts, are built on top of the Servlet and JavaServer Page specifications and base libraries. To fully understand how these frameworks operate, and to be able to take full advantage of the facilities they offer, you should understand the foundations such frameworks are built on. This course takes you through building a web application using the base Servlet and JavaServer Page libraries. The course discusses the Model-View-Controller pattern using Servlets as the Controller and JavaServer Pages as the View. You will also learn how to hide complex UI interaction inside tag libraries. The course will show you how it is possible to build a web application using these fundamental technologies, and how other frameworks are built.
About the author
A long time ago in a university far, far away Kevin fell in love with programming. Initially on the university's DEC20 computer doing BASIC and Pascal and a little bit of Fortran. His first job had him writing batch PL/1 on an IBM mainframe where he also discovered the arcane delights of JCL. He soon realized the multiuser systems were not for him after discovering the delights of dBase IV on IBM PCs. From here it was all downhill as he became addicted to C and the Windows API. Just missing out ... moreon coding for Windows 1, he did code for the other 16 bit versions of Windows, 2 and 3, including the various network-ready versions. He still remembers the awkwardness of having to carry an IBM Token Ring MAU with him wherever he went.
After trying to pretend that Windows and C were really object oriented he decided that it would be better to learn C++. It was around this point that he realized that as well as writing code for a living he could be paid for telling people how to write code for a living. He taught Windows, MFC and C++ for a UK training company before his spirit was broken on the back of the OLE support in MFC when he finally stepped away from the nightmare of unmanaged code to the nirvana of the managed runtime called Java.
It was at this time that he spoke at several JavaOne conferences usually on the subject of Servlets, JavaServer Pages and tag libraries. After buying the Sun employees copious amounts of Apple Martini Kevin was invited onto the expert groups for the Servlet and JSP specifications.
Oh, how he laughed when .Net appeared and the same arguments raged about non-deterministic destruction and garbage collection that were now so old hat in the Java world. He finally got his hands dirty in C# and .Net about eight years ago, again working in the web tier and hating every minute of the using the monstrosity that was and is ASP.Net Web Forms. It wasn't until MVC appeared that he finally felt he had come home to Microsoft.
Now of course MVC is so last year and Kevin is focusing more and more on rich clients using JavaScript and tools such as Knockout and AngularJS. He believes that JavaScript is the best thing since, well, JavaScript.
He still retains his passion for developing and teaching; spending about a quarter of the year doing the latter and most of the time doing the former.
When not stuck in front of a computer you can find him: with his nose in a book, a good one preferably, but almost any book would do; watching a film; walking; running; or annoying his wife by watching sports on television.
