Hi all,
I am new to JSP, and i want to start learning on my own. I have a set of tutorials, but i want to use Websphere as a webserver. What is directory structure to develope and deply the JSP files. Is that the same for Tomcat also?
Please, some one give me a clear idea as whats the way to start learning JSP-> servlets or the other.
Thanks
in advance
I think the directory structure for Tomcat is different, but I dont know for sure.
I would stick with JSP for now, leave servlets for later. Servlets are more complicated to work with, and it is not often that you NEED to use them.
My advice would be to learn to write java classes in a compiler also, these classes can then be accessed from your JSP. Classes are re-usable, and are easier to work with than jsp as error messages / bug fixing in a compiler is easier to manage, you can run the code with break points etc to check how it is working.
A compiler I like is http://www.bluej.org/
This is a learning tool, it is not as powerful as net beans, but loads a lot faster, and is very easy to use.
Net beans is good as it will allow you to code classes and jsp (blueJ is a Java compiler only, no JSP support).
Personally I hate net beans, it is too bulky. I prefer to use blueJ and a light weight html editor. Eclipse is another development environment you could have a look at.
Its worth spending a little time evaluating different tools, seeing how well your pc copes with them, and how much you like the products.
If you have an old pc you have to remember that you are going to have to run a browser, the web server and your development environment concurrently, if you choose heavy weight tools it can slow your machine. In addition, when you come to deploy / maintain your app on the server you may be using an FTP and SSH / Telnet client!!
Before you do too much coding, read up on Model 1 and Model 2 (MVC) architecture and decide which you will use.
Frameworks like Struts are required to use MVC architecture. There are big benefits to using frameworks, but you will spend a lot of time learning about other peoples code, as opposed to learning about Java. I chose not to use a framework for this reason, i.e. I wanted to learn more Java. Now I have that understanding I will start using frameworks.
Hope I havent confused you, but as you will find, there is a lot to know, but its good fun !!!
