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JSP Buzz: Vol. III Issue #12

JSPBuzz -- July 9th, 2002

07.09.2002

Table of Contents
  1. Westpoint Security Advisory on J2EE Servlet Containers
  2. Web Server Vulnerability Reaches All Time High
  3. Microsoft's Out to Snag Java Developers
  4. Microsoft, IBM offer WS-Security spec to OASIS
  5. U.S. Office of Management and Budget ranks J2EE above .NET
  6. Time to Review the New JSP and Servlets!
  1. XML Schemas
  2. Shameless Promotion of HostJSP.com
  1. Filter Code with Servlet 2.3 Model
  2. Enhancing Web Services Infrastructures with JMS
  3. Struts and Tiles Aid Component-based Development
  4. Java Optimization Techniques
  5. Bitter Java
  6. Java Tools for Extreme Programming
  7. An Introduction to JDBC, Part 3
  8. Simple XML Parsing with SAX and DOM
  9. Java to Become Dominant Language Next Year
  10. Working with Complex Data Types, Part 1 to Part 3
  11. JPetStore
  12. Achieve Strong Performance With Threads, Part 3
  13. Why Microsoft Makes a Complete Hash Out of C#
  1. Version 2.0 of Eclipse
  2. Kaffe 1.0.7
  3. JSP Standard Tag Library Implementation (1.0)
  4. Coldtags Suite ver. 0.92 Released
  5. JADE 1.0
  6. GCViewer
  7. Java Web Services Developer Pack (JWSDP) 1.0
News
Westpoint Security Advisory on J2EE Servlet Containers
Westpoint June 28th, 2002 
It turns out the combination of MS windows and several J2EE servlet containers creates a slight problem. To quote the advisory the problem is as follows: "A vulnerability exists in multiple Win32 servlet engines whereby if you append a dot ('.') to the end of WEB-INF in the requested URL, it is possible to retrieve the contents of any files within that directory."
Afflicted Servers are: Sybase EA Server 4.0, OC4J, Oracle Containers for J2EE (www.oracle.com) Orion 1.5.3 , JRun, HPAS 8.0,Pramati 3.0 and Jo. Browse to the link for more detailed information.
Web Server Vulnerability Reaches All Time High
Register July 3rd, 2002 
In a nutshell, security on the Internet sucks. Ok, not really news to most of us. Especially since we expect security holes to be present.
Microsoft's Out to Snag Java Developers
ZDNet July 1st, 2002 
Microsoft has released the first official release of J# for the .Net framework. J# is not Java, it just lets you use Java style code to build code in .Net.
Some additional information can be found at Wired:
Microsoft, IBM offer WS-Security spec to OASIS
ZDNet June 27th, 2002 
Microsoft, IBM, and VeriSign have submitted WS-Security, a group of Web services security specs first announced last April, to the OASIS standards group. This is important as it means WS-Security will be royalty-free.
U.S. Office of Management and Budget ranks J2EE above .NET
The ServerSide July 3rd, 2002 
The U.S. government rates J2EE to be better than .Net. To quote "J2EE is an established, mature technology and by far the more open of the two (J2EE and .NET)," said Debra Stouffer, who served as a federal enterprise architecture program manager for OMB"
Time to Review the New JSP and Servlets!
SUN June 2002 
The JSP 2.0 and Servlets 2.4 specifications are now available in public draft. Go take a peek at them and give some feedback! Keep in mind these are not the final releases of the specifications.
Rambles
XML Schemas
Casey Kochmer 
This weeks ramble is sparked by the following link
Can XML Be The Same After W3C XML Schema?
The basic point of the article is that the act of being able to define XML will also change the way we use XML. A basic statement, which carries much truth. The author is interested in how schemas will change XML. This leads me to wonder when we should use schemas.
I would agree with much of what the author has to say. Schemas do change the way we should think and use XML. However, considering programmers are only now beginning to understand how to use XML, it is going to take a bit of time before schemas change the way XML is used by the programming public.
While schemas give the capability to define the way an XML file should appear, it doesn't mean a schema should always be used to define every XML file. Schemas should be used when validation of layout needs to occur or when a published standard should exist. However, remember sometimes the structure of an XML file itself is enough to give to fill these two needs and define the data.
In addition, schemas add additional complication to XML. Also to make things more confusing, the automated tools blur the learning curve of schemas, making it easy to begin using schemas without really understanding how to use schemas properly within the XML picture. Just remember while schemas are neat, you don't always need the additional overhead of schemas. XML is already a resource intensive medium, schemas can add to the burden of the XML processing. Also, while personally I almost always define a schema for my XML files, having a schema definition and actually using it within the XML file itself is a different thing all together.
So, the good news is that schemas are here and add a new layer of flexibility to XML. The bad news is exactly the same, we have an additional layer to deal with within our processes!
Shameless Promotion of HostJSP.com
Casey Kochmer & Jayson Falkner 
Normally we like to stay neutral in terms of products and services. However, HostJSP has been working hard with us and they have been doing an excellent job, so they earned this shameless promotional piece! This is in no way is a paid advertisement, rather, it's a reflection of Jayson's and my gratitude to the hard work and excellent service the folks at HostJSP have given us for the past year and a half.
Jaysons recent experience is one reason for this ramble.
Cheers to HostJSP.com, they have been nothing but fantastic! I wish I could say exactly why, but, it is related to the taboo topic that is security. Anyhow, an 'upgrade' occurred which caused a problem to non-MS software JSP Insider relies on. After quick moment of looking at things , we asked for some help from the tech support people. HostJSP was quick and prompt and as a bonus after they had taken the time to solve the problem of course.
Not only that, but I e-mail again and again for more related problems. For each inquiry the same speedy, personal response came after doing the fix. Did they ever complain or try to dodge the problem? No. I gladly say I've never had such a great experience with *any* other tech support. Way to go guys! (in the figurative sense, special thanks to Teresa!)
So if you are looking for a solid JSP or Servlet Hosting provider then do stop by and check them out.
http://www.hostjsp.com/
Links
Filter Code with Servlet 2.3 Model
Jason Hunter June 2002 
Jason Hunter looks in-depth at the new servlet filter model with an examination of several freely available filters. You'll learn how these filters work and what you can do with them. For a grand finale, Jason describes his own multipart request filter that simplifies the handling of file uploads.
Enhancing Web Services Infrastructures with JMS
Gunnison Carbone June 19th, 2002 
A good article discussing how JMS can increase performance and scalability in web services. For simple web service based systems an interface between the web services and the application is overkill. However, for many types of more complicated systems, adding JMS to decouple the web service from the application makes quite a bit of sense.
Struts and Tiles Aid Component-based Development
Wellie Chao June 2002 
Struts contributors have recently enhanced the project's core functionality and improved the view support, incorporating the Tiles view component framework to strengthen support for component-based development, to increase reuse, and to enhance consistency. In this article, Wellie Chao explains why the Struts and Tiles combination is a terrific package of tools for creating Web applications and shows you how to get started using it, with a focus on changes since Struts 0.9.
Java Optimization Techniques
Erwin Vervaet and Maarten De Cock June 2002 
Many useful techniques exist for optimizing a Java program. Instead of focusing on one particular technique, this article considers the optimization process as a whole. The point of the article is how to change looking at your process, rather than focusing in on code tricks.
Bitter Java
The ServerSide June 2002 
You can download a PDF version of Bitter Java. To quote the ServerSide:"It is a well-known fact that most software projects fail. Drawing important lessons from failure is the goal of Bitter Java, a systematic account of common server-side Java programming mistakes, their causes and solutions. Reusing design patterns is not enough for success: patterns are like partial maps of dangerous terrain. They help but don't prevent you from getting lost." It seems like a good book to read, but I haven't read itself yet.
Java Tools for Extreme Programming
Rick Hightower and Cholas Lesiecki July 2002 
In this sample chapter, the authors explain the techniques involved in using Ant to build and deploy Java applications and components. Specifically, you'll learn how to create a master build file to build subprojects of the main project where each subproject can be a different component for the main application.
An Introduction to JDBC, Part 3
William Crawford and Jim Farley June 12th, 2002 
This is part three of this four-part excerpt on JDBC from Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, learn about error handling, prepared statements, BLOBs and CLOBs.
Simple XML Parsing with SAX and DOM
Philipp K. Janert, Ph.D. June 26th, 2002 
This is a simple introduction to the two most widely used APIs: SAX and DOM. For each API, a sample application will be built to read an XML document and turn it into a set of Java objects representing the data in the document, a process known as XML "unmarshalling."
Java to Become Dominant Language Next Year
JavaLobby July 2nd, 2002 
Interesting thread of conversation about Java's position in the market. Included are two links to surveys on how well Java is doing in the market place.
Working with Complex Data Types, Part 1 to Part 3
Robert Englander June 2002 
A three part series of articles which is a series of excerpts from "Chapter 5: Working with Complex Data Types" of Java and SOAP." Links to all three articles can be found within this article.
JPetStore
Clinton Begin June 2002 
This site contains extensive materials designed to help you evaluate the Java 2 Platform vs. Microsoft .NET using the different Pet Store implementations. The site contains links to downloadable whitepapers, code comparisons and sample source code. Great job Clinton! This is also a good place to learn how to implement a practical Struts project!
Some feedback from the Java Community can be found at the ServerSide
Achieve Strong Performance With Threads, Part 3
Jeff Friesen July 2002 
Jeff Friesen's four-part thread series continues with an investigation of thread scheduling, the wait/notify mechanism, and thread interruption. In Part 3, Friesen explains how priority relates to thread scheduling. You discover how to use the wait/notify mechanism to coordinate the activities of multiple threads. Plus, you learn how to use Java's thread interruption capability to terminate a running thread.
Why Microsoft Makes a Complete Hash Out of C#
Register July 4th, 2002 
The truth and nothing but the truth on the # IN C#. Or why C# could also be known as D Flat. Quite entertaining article.
Products
Version 2.0 of Eclipse
Eclipse June 28th, 2002 
The latest and greatest of the Eclipse Java IDE has been released to the general public.
Kaffe 1.0.7
Kaffe July 2nd, 2002 
Kaffe is a clean room implementation of the Java virtual machine, plus the associated class libraries needed to provide a Java runtime environment. The Kaffe virtual machine is free software, licensed under the terms of the GNU Public License. Kaffe is good to use as a base for virtual machine education and/or research, or if you need a virtual machine as an integral component of an open source or free software Java distribution. Kaffe is implements mainly Java 1.2 with some features from 1.3 and 1.4.
JSP Standard Tag Library Implementation (1.0)
Jakarta June 21st, 2002 
Standard Taglib, final release 1.0, is now available for download. This distribution contains the same JSTL implementation as was included in Sun's Web Services Developer Pack, version 1.0.
Coldtags Suite ver. 0.92 Released
Coldbeans June 28th, 2002 
Coldbeans Software announced the major new release of Coldtags taglib. This suite provides 90+ custom JSP tags for common programming tasks faced by JSP developers. And now this suite includes custom tags similar to web controls in .NET framework.
JADE 1.0
Salmon LLC June 29th, 2002 
The JADE Open Framework is a RAD tool set for the J2EE. It integrates best-of-breed tools with a Java framework to provide an end-to-end solution for developing high quality database driven web applications and web sites quickly and easily.
GCViewer
Tagtraum Industries June 6th, 2002 
A simple utility to help visualize the data produced by the Java VM options -verbose:gc and -Xloggc: file. It is open source.
Java Web Services Developer Pack (JWSDP) 1.0
Sun June 2002 
The final production version of the Java Web Services Developer Pack (JWSDP) 1.0, the Java Web Services Developer Pack tutorial and the Java XML Pack Summer 02 release is now available for immediate use.
Please send your comments, suggestions and experiences with the pack to jwsdp-feedback@sun.com for JWSDP and javaxmlpack-feedback@sun.com for the Java and XML Pack

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