JSP Insider - Online resource for JavaServer Pages (JSP), Servlets, and J2EE

XSL version 1.0 recommendation released. You would think that XSL should be on the 3.0 release by now, considering how much press it gets. In effect this isn't big news, but it is kewl as the recommendation is at least solid.

Rambles

Casey Kochmer

From a JSP point of view, J# doesn't really interest me very much. In fact, when I put on my project manager hat on, I find J# to be useless.

Lets examine the reasons: I ask myself the question: What does J# offer me?

It offers only one thing, a method to plug into the .Net framework using Java programming skills.

Ok I can look at the question from two perspectives.

Perspective One:

What offers my project the greatest degree of support? If I wanted to use .Net, I would want to build my .Net in a fashion that leveraged the most documentation and developers my way. This means, I would use C# not J#, since I perceive C# as the language of choice to use within the .Net framework. As a manager I would view J# only as most poorly supported language within the .Net Framework. So I would stay far away from it as a result. From my viewpoint C# is the language to maximize the best combination of support and personal to pull into my project. So this means a big thumbs down for J#.

Perspective Two:

I want to use my existing Java staff to work with the .Net framework. Quite honestly, If I already have an experience staff in Java, I would have no reason to leave the Java enviroment! Java meets all my needs now. So in the final analysis. J# offers no incentive to leave Java. As a project manager with existing Java Staff, I would stay with JSP, J2EE and Java.

This means as a project manager I find J# totally useless. Either I use ASP.net and C# or use JSP and Java. There is no need for J#.

OK time to take off my project manager hat off and think as a business owner. From this angle I can clearly see the .Net Framework needs J#. Why? As a purely marketing tool to attract mindshare. J# is a tool to leverage a few organizations on the fence towards the .Net framework. I personally suspect the effective use in this area of marketing in final numbers to be small. But, if J# manages to help grab the small one to five percent of the Java market that Gartner predicts, that percentage still translates into a lot of systems. So as a small business owner, I gladly defer to Microsoft's vast experience in this area. However, I would like to suggest another name of Bob#?

OK, I must be fair, I really haven't looked into J# very deeply. In late November it is on my calendar to actually take a closer look at J#. So if my opinion changes, I will let the JSP Buzz readers know. As of now my opinion is J# just doesn't matter. It is more of marketing feature to swing people on the fence towards the .Net framework.

For some other commentary on J# check out this article

ZD-Net

More Thoughts on Web Services

Casey Kochmer

And the battle royal is continuing to shape up. Java in one corner and .Net in the other. So much to ponder and so many angles to examine.

This ramble is sparked by the following article from JavaWorld.

Will .Net take down Java in 2002?

The basic point of the article is that .Net will come out fast, since many of the software vendors will support it. However, this argument has me thinking about web services again. The fact of the matter is Microsoft-centric web services will also be affected by similar trends. This leads me to the conclusion that the web services market will end up being pretty evenly split, but into two corners. Large and very complete Java based services and smaller but faster developed Microsoft centric solutions. It seems neither solution will be the clear winner. Shops already into J2EE will naturally extend using existing infrastructure to build their web services. Smaller shops with few programmers, and few Java resources will stray into .Net. ASP based shops should generally stay with the .Net framework. And so on and so on. In conclusion this will be a long battle royal between Java and .Net with no clear winners or losers. Well actually the only losers will be the projects on the fence, where the FUD from both sides confuses the true story. This means if you are a project which is really on the fence. Spend extra time to make sure you are picking the right development baseline. I myself would be happy to use either system, provided the system matched my infrastructure and programming staff expertise. Personally for myself I will stay with JSP and build web services from a Java centric model. JSP / Servlet based solutions. However, Java developers would be wrong to snub .Net since .Net will easily even out the web service game in the marketplace.

Support Your Local Web Site

Casey Kochmer

Web Organizations are still dropping like flies. The latest to be in major trouble is faqs.

Help Save FAQS

This ramble is brief. As developers we have gotten used to various high quality sites to make our job easier. The sad truth is many of these sites will slowly be disappearing now. Over the next 6 months I expect to see quite a few sites to drop out of the picture. So, if you have a site that you visit or use quite a bit, then support it. Tell your friends, and co-workers. If you can send advertisement or other business their way, Then do so. Otherwise in six months time many of the web sites people have been using free, will just be gone...

Links

The Essentials of Filters

Sun	August 22nd, 2001

Filters are simply great! They are one of the nice new features available in the Servlet 2.3 specification. If you haven't looked in to what filters can do for your site, you are missing out. Here is another good article on filters that popped up on Sun's site. JSP Insider actually uses the Response compression filter mentioned. Thanks Tomcat, and thanks Amy Roh!

The End of Homemade Websites

Jakob Nielsen

October 14th, 2001

In brief: Web services are the future of commercial web sites. Why? They offer a method to reduce costs, by not having to have your own programming staff to build every aspect of your web site. Or lets summarize with the following mantra: Faster, Better and Cheaper. I agree with the main thought of the article, for building commercial sites is too expensive in the current business environment. Of course, the killer web services still need to be built...

Facilitate Form Processing with the Form Processing API 2.0

Ilirjan Ostrovica

October 5th, 2001

Ilirjan Ostrovica has an article about using the latest Form Processing API 2.0 to simplify creating forms for a client. The approach requires heavy use of Servlets and filters, where as a JSP taglib might make a bit more sense. It is well done, and provides an update on the FPAPI open-source project.

Java Skyline

October 1st, 2001

The Java Skyline is one of my favorite Java sites. Every few months Richard adds another section to his wonderful site. The latest addition of note is the web services area. Worth looking into if you are tracking web services.

Professional Java Server Programming J2EE, 1.3 Edition

JSPInsider

October 10th, 2001

Wrox has been kind enough to contribute two sample chapters from Professional Java Server Programming J2EE 1.3 Edition. The two chapters on the site are: The J2EE Connector Architecture and J2EE Packaging and Deployment.

Switching to Linux

JavaLobby

October 18th, 2001

Well Jayson made the switch to Linux and is loving it! I am currently on windows 2000, but Windows XP has convinced me to move to Linux, so I have been paying close attention to Articles which discuss moving to Linux. This is a pretty good discussion on the topic aimed at the Java Developer.

Products

Tomcat 4.01

Jakarta

October 14th, 2001

The final release of the Tomcat 4.01. It seems like, Tomcat is just a permanent fixture in the product section! But it's sweet to have a tool be updated frequently and to be reliable as Tomcat!

JSP Standard Tag Library Early Access 1.2

Jakarta

October 10th, 2001

The early access release of the standard JSP Tag Library has had an update. Keep in mind this is not a final release of the tags, but it is certainly something to check out.

JSP Version IP*Works.

/n Software

October 15th, 2001

This new edition of IP*Works! is built specifically for Java Server Page and J2EE development. The package includes more than 30 Pure JavaBeans with interfaces similar to IP*Works! ASP Edition: eventless, easy-to-script components, accompanied by many sample JSP pages illustrating the functionality. Download the public beta today!

Resin v2.0.3

Caucho

October 18th 2001

The Resin-2.0.3 release includes support for WebDAV (www.webdav.org). WebDAV is a replacement for FTP that's better integrated with operating systems like the newer versions of Windows and MacOS X.

Red Hat Linux 7.2

Red Hat

November 2001

Red Hat is getting ready to ship 7.2 soon. This article reviews the features of the next release of Red Hat's popular Linux.

Optimizeit Suite

VM Gear

October 23rd 2001

OptimizeIt is a nice tool and a new version will be released on October 23rd. The tool is now part of a suite which consists of three integrated tools: The award- winning Optimizeit Profiler component allows developers to quickly zoom in on buggy code or faulty algorithms, track down and understand CPU utilization issues, and correct memory leaks and excessive temporary object allocations. The Thread Debugger's component which allows developers to view a comprehensive, real-time display of the changing status of all threads and monitors, uncover thread contentions and avoid thread starvation, and predict deadlocks before mysterious hangs can ever occur. The Code Coverage component lets developers view in real-time how frequently each method and line of code is executed, ensuring that test plans are complete and that applications are ready to deploy.

Reviews

XML Spy 4.0

Altova

Reviewed by: Casey Kochmer

The latest version of XML Spy was recently released by Altova. First I would like to say, I do recommend this tool with a big thumbs up. XML Spy is a solid tool for programmers using XML. As a tool it can be used in many ways, I use it in a fairly simple manner actually. I have been using XML Spy to help me generate the JSPBuzz XML files and it has been very helpful. The reason is that at some point I need to actually create the JSPBuzz XML file. To write the JSP Buzz it is easiest to start and produce the basic text version that is sent over as an email. Once I have my data, I still have the task to actually take the data and port it to the XML data file that holds the final JSPBuzz issue. While I could do this in several different ways, after experimentation I found the easiest method turns out just to use XML Spy's, graphical interface to enter the data into my XML file. While the interface took a few days to get used to, after some practice I found the interface to be very solid and easy to reuse. This makes my job of transferring the data a breeze. XML Spy has many other features such as excellent XSL support and strong XML validation to help my job become even easier. So while I have only scratched the surface of this tool even at the simple level I use the tool, it is a tremendous help! So a big thumbs up!

Advanced JavaServer Pages

David M. Geary

Reviewed By: Jayson Falkner

At last! A JSP book that is geared only towards advanced developers. Geary's approach is quite unique compared to other current JSP books. The preface says it straight out. "This book begins where most introductory books leave off, by showing you how to implement JSP custom tags...Subsequent chapters cover HTML forms, JSP templates, Model 1 and Model 2 architectures, and simple Model 2 framework, handling events, internationalization, security, databases, and XML."

Notice the preface excerpt doesn't say this is a novel, read it front to back. Nor does the preface excerpt mention anything about reviewing JSP basics, or even mention how to install a JSP environment. At first I was quite displeased by this, but then I realized it was actually quite nice.

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