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About the Author
Kevin Yank
Kevin began developing for the Web in 1995 and is a highly respected technical author. He wrote Build your own Database Driven Website using PHP and MySQL, a practical step-by-step guide published by SitePoint, and he's co-author of the SitePoint Tech Times, a bi-weekly newsletter for technically-minded web developers. Kev believes that any good webmaster should have seen at least one episode of MacGyver.
JSP Quick-Start Guide for Linux
JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a server-side technology that allows developers to create Web-based applications that can make use of components that are developed in the Java programming language, according to the JavaBeans specification. In some respects, it can be compared to server-side scripting languages such as ASP and PHP. JSP is similar to PHP in the C-style syntax of the Java language, but JSP was also designed to be extendable using components like ASP.
When it comes right down to it, however, JSP is a technology like no other. Extremely fast, platform independent, highly scaleable with built-in support for distributed processing, compatible with all major Web servers, and FREE for most uses, one might wonder why JSP isn't used more than it is.
Well, as I see it, there are two main reasons for that:
- To take full advantage of JSP, a developer must first be comfortable working in the Java programming language. Unfortunately, this can be quite an ask for Web developers who like to concentrate on design and dabble in a scripting language or two when necessary. There are lots of good online tutorials and books out there for people interested in learning Java, but the process can be time consuming and, depending on the individual, quite challenging, due to the nature of Java as a pure object-oriented language.
- Setting up a server environment to develop and test JSPs can be a confusing task, especially since most of the documents written to guide users through the process are steeped in technical mumbo jumbo that assumes you already know JSP inside and out. If you're just getting started with JSPs, you want a step-by-step guide to getting a server up and running in short order so that you can concentrate on learning the language, and worry about the details of server configuration later.
In this article, I'll attempt to remedy the latter point by guiding you through the process of setting up a JSP-enabled Web server on a Linux machine. Hopefully, this will give you the head start you need to jump into the world of JSP development. I'll take you as far as getting a basic JSP page working on your server, and then you can dive into our JSP article series, The JSP Files fully equipped!
As for the Windows users in the audience, don't fret! Just see my JSP Quick-Start Guide for Windows!