Introduction to JSP

What is Java Server Pages?

JSP stands for Java Server Pages, a technology for dynamic web development. It uses JSP tags to insert Java code into HTML pages. Tags typically begin with <% and end with %>.

JSP is a Java servlet primarily used to implement the user interface part of Java web applications. Web developers write JSP by combining HTML code, XHTML code, XML elements, and embedded JSP actions and commands.

JSP retrieves user input data through web forms, accesses databases and other data sources, and dynamically creates web pages.

JSP tags have various functions, such as accessing databases, recording user selection information, accessing JavaBeans components, and passing control and sharing information between different pages.

Why Use JSP?

JSP programs have similar functionalities to CGI programs but offer the following advantages over CGI programs:

• Superior performance, as JSP can dynamically embed elements directly into HTML pages without needing to reference separate CGI files.
• Servers call pre-compiled JSP files, unlike CGI/Perl which must load the interpreter and target script first.
• JSP is based on the Java Servlet API, providing access to powerful enterprise-level Java APIs, including JDBC, JNDI, EJB, JAXP, and more.
• JSP pages can be used with servlets that handle business logic, a pattern supported by Java servlet template engines.
• Lastly, JSP is an integral part of Java EE, a comprehensive enterprise application platform. This means JSP can implement complex applications in the simplest way.

Advantages of JSP

Here are additional benefits of using JSP:

• Compared to ASP: JSP has two major advantages. First, the dynamic parts are written in Java, not VB or other Microsoft-specific languages, making it more powerful and versatile. Second, JSP is easily portable to non-Microsoft platforms.
• Compared to pure Servlets: JSP allows easy writing or modification of HTML pages without dealing with numerous println statements.
• Compared to SSI: SSI cannot use form data or establish database connections.
• Compared to JavaScript: While JavaScript can dynamically generate HTML on the client side, it struggles to interact with the server, thus cannot provide complex services like database access and image processing.
• Compared to static HTML: Static HTML does not include dynamic information.

What's Next?

We will guide you step-by-step to set up a JSP runtime environment, which requires a basic understanding of Java.

If you haven't learned Java yet, you can start with our Java Tutorial.