JSP Technology -- Friend or Foe?
By Brett McLaughlin2003-03-07
A bit of history
Before diving into an explanation of presentation technology, it's helpful to fill in some details on the situation that led to the birth of the technology. Just 10 short years ago, the term thin client was a novelty. We still lived in a world of desktop applications, powered by wimpy 286 microprocessors with 14-inch monitors that we squinted at. Boy, have times changed! Now my desktop does nothing but power a Web browser, while servers from Sun, IBM, HP, Compaq, and the rest churn out computations, business logic, and content. And that little monitor? Replaced by flat-screen, plasma, whopping 21- and 25-inch beauties. Why? So we can see the intricate and complex HTML displays that serve as a front-end to these powerful applications. No longer does a clunky interface suffice; now we expect flashy graphics, moving images, color-coordinated presentations that would look good in any room in the house, and speedy rendering to boot.
Tutorial Pages:
» A critical look at JavaServer Pages servlets as a viable presentation technology
» A bit of history
» The premise
» Segregation vs. integration
» Work vs. rework
» The promise of JSP technology
» Content vs. presentation
» Code vs. markup
» Designer vs. developer
» The problems
» Portability vs. language lock-in
» Mingling vs. independence
» Blurring the line between content and presentation
» Single-processing vs. multi-tasking
» HTML vs. XML
» Summary
» Resources
First published by IBM developerWorks
