Introduction to JSP


What is Java Server Pages?

The full name of JSP is Java Server Pages, which is a dynamic web development technology. It uses JSP tags to insert Java code in HTML web pages. Tags usually start with <% and end with %>.

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

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

JSP tags have a variety of functions, such as accessing databases, recording user selection information, accessing JavaBeans components, etc., and can also transfer control information and shared information in different web pages.


Why use JSP?

JSP programs have similar functions to CGI programs, but compared with CGI programs, JSP programs have the following advantages:

  • The performance is superior because JSP can directly Dynamically embed elements in HTML web pages without the need to reference CGI files separately.

  • The server calls the compiled JSP file, unlike CGI/Perl, which must first load the interpreter and target script.

  • JSP is based on the Java Servlets API. Therefore, JSP has a variety of powerful enterprise-level Java APIs, including JDBC, JNDI, EJB, JAXP and so on.

  • JSP pages can be used with servlets that handle business logic. This mode is supported by the Java servlet template engine.

Finally, JSP is an integral part of Java EE and is a complete enterprise-level application platform. This means that JSP can implement the most complex applications in the simplest way.

Advantages of JSP

Listed below are other benefits of using JSP:

  • Compared with ASP: JSP has two Big advantage. First of all, the dynamic part is written in Java instead of VB or other MS-specific languages, so it is more powerful and easier to use. The second point is that JSP is easy to port to non-MS platforms.

  • Compared with pure Servlets: JSP can easily write or modify HTML web pages without having to face a large number of println statements.

  • Compared with SSI: SSI cannot use form data and cannot connect to the database.

  • Compared with JavaScript: Although JavaScript can dynamically generate HTML on the client, it is difficult to interact with the server and therefore cannot provide complex services, such as accessing databases and image processing, etc.

  • Compared with static HTML: Static HTML does not contain dynamic information.

what's next?

We will take you step by step to build a JSP running environment, which requires a certain Java foundation.

If you have not learned Java yet, you can first learn the Java tutorial we provide you.