Head First Servlets and JSP

Looking to study up for the new J2EE 1.5 Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD) exam?

This book will get you way up to speed on the technology you’ll know it so well, in fact, that you can pass the brand new J2EE 1.5 exam. If that’s what you want to do, that is. Maybe you don’t care about the exam, but need to use servlets and JSPs in your next project. You’re working on a deadline. You’re over the legal limit for caffeine. You can’t waste your time with a book that makes sense only AFTER you’re an expert (or worse, one that puts you to sleep).

Learn how to write servlets and JSPs, what makes a web container tick (and what ticks it off), how to use JSP’s Expression Language (EL for short), and how to write deployment descriptors for your web applications. Master the c:out tag, and get a handle on exactly what’s changed since the older J2EE 1.4 exam. You don’t just pass the new J2EE 1.5 SCWCD exam, you’ll understand this stuff and put it to work immediately.

Head First Servlets and JSP doesn’t just give you a bunch of facts to memorize; it drives knowledge straight into your brain. You’ll interact with servlets and JSPs in ways that help you learn quickly and deeply. And when you’re through with the book, you can take a brand-new mock exam, created specifically to simulate the real test-taking experience.

Table of Contents

1 Why use Servlets & JSPs: an introduction

2 Web App Architecture: high-level overview

3 Mini MVC Tutorial: hands-on MVC

4 Being a Servlet: request AND response

5 Being a Web App: attributes and listeners

6 Conversational state: session management

7 Being a JSP: using JSP

8 Script-free pages: scriptless JSP

9 Custom tags are powerful: using JSTL

10 When even JSTL is not enough: custom tag development

11 Deploying your web app: web app deployment

12 Keep it secret, keep it safe: web app security

13 The Power of Filters: wrappers and filters

14 Enterprise design patterns: patterns and struts

A Appendix A: Final Mock Exam

About the Authors

Bryan Basham is a Software Architect and Developer with extensive experience in Java web technologies. He has a keen eye for identifying core, reusable modules and crafting effective interfaces between subsystems. He has excellent OO analysis and design skills and quickly learn new domains. He is also skilled in information architecture and UI design.

Kathy Sierra has been interested in learning theory since her days as a game developer (Virgin, MGM, Amblin’). More recently, she’s been a master trainer for Sun Microsystems, teaching Sun’s Java instructors how to teach the latest technologies to customers, and a lead developer of several Sun certification exams. Along with her partner Bert Bates, Kathy created the Head First series. She’s also the original founder of the Software Development/Jolt Productivity Award-winning javaranch.com, the largest (and friendliest) all-volunteer Java community.

Bert Bates is a 20-year software developer, a Java instructor, and a co-developer of Sun’s upcoming EJB exam (Sun Certified Business Component Developer). His background features a long stint in artificial intelligence, with clients like the Weather Channel, A&E Network, Rockwell, and Timken.