Tell me more ×
Programmers Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional programmers interested in conceptual questions about software development. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 5 down vote favorite
2

Is there a good online overview of or tutorial on how the Java web ecosystem works? I have Thinking in Java, but it's mostly just the language itself (which I understand well enough to get by). When searching, I found the Sun Java Servlet Tutorial, which is outdated, along with other outdated or dubious options.

share|improve this question
WHen you googled for J2EE tutorials, what did you find? Please list a few with explanations for why you thought they were not "good". We don't know what you mean by "good" and what you've already looked at. – S.Lott Mar 19 '11 at 12:25
1  
"Good," in this context, means applicable to the current version of Java and its tools and narrowly concerned with the Java web stack. I was getting a different version of the Oracle tutorial when I Googled; Chuck's answer, which I accepted, pointed out that there is a newer version which seems good. – syrion Mar 19 '11 at 17:39
@syrion: First, please update the question with your definition of 'good'. Second, please update your question to remove the irrelevant and confusing back-story. Third, please update your question to include the tutorials you did not lock so we can provide useful answers that are not duplicates of tutorials you already looked at and didn't like. – S.Lott Mar 21 '11 at 10:57
@S.Lott: I was unable to update my question, as I could not find an update button. However, I did use the edit function to modify the content of my question to be more in line with community standards. Even though it's inferior in terms of boldness, I hope that it will meet your expectations. :D – syrion Mar 21 '11 at 15:19
@syrion: The edit button is how you update your question. I'm not sure why you were looking for an update button. Some folks insist on adding comments, rather than updating their questions. I emphasize update because I've noticed that few people actually update the question. You can ignore the emphasis if it's not helpful. Other people, however, seem to need it. – S.Lott Mar 21 '11 at 15:27
show 2 more comments

4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Are you using JEE5 or JEE6? I'm not sure what online tutorial you're looking at but the Sun/Oracle EE online tutorial is excellent. http://download.oracle.com/javaee/6/tutorial/doc/

share|improve this answer
That's interesting. This is not what came up when I searched for "servlet tutorial" on oracle.com. I was being linked to java.sun.com/j2ee/tutorial/1_3-fcs/index.html, which is obviously quite old. Thanks -- maybe it's just too late at night for me to be doing this. – syrion Mar 19 '11 at 3:25
up vote 2 down vote

I can write Java code. I'm not great at it--unlike Python, I rarely make use of anything unique to Java when I'm writing it.

Java is a lingua franca precisely because it's very simple at the level of the language spec. The language per se has almost no unique/interesting features. What makes it worth learning/using is the exceptional quality and quantity of tool and library support, part of which is a consequence of the simplicity of the language spec. This is where to look for things unique to Java. If you're not taking advantage of fancy IDEs, refactoring tools, the huge standard library, etc., you're either doing it wrong or you've picked the wrong tool for the job.

share|improve this answer
I am aware of the breadth of the Java standard library and the quality of its tools; when I need to program a GUI, I prefer it over Python because of the maturity of those tools. Understand: I am not attacking Java, I'm just being required to use it in a domain where I would normally pick another tool (Python plus a framework). I am trying to understand how to use Java in this domain. – syrion Mar 19 '11 at 3:12
@syrion: I'm basically saying that, if you don't see anything unique/interesting in the core language, you're not missing anything. – dsimcha Mar 19 '11 at 3:15
Ah. I misunderstood you a bit. Sorry! – syrion Mar 19 '11 at 3:18
up vote 0 down vote

I've found Marty Hall's material to be pretty good.
Either one of the following seem like good places to start:

http://www.coreservlets.com/Apache-Tomcat-Tutorial/
or
http://courses.coreservlets.com/Course-Materials/csajsp2.html

Let me know if these work out for you.

share|improve this answer
Well, I think usability has come a long way ... however if you can tolerate the site (which I think is a challenge) the material will hopefully help you get running. – user20592 Mar 19 '11 at 3:22
up vote -1 down vote

Unfortunately, I'm currently pursuing an IT degree where Java is the lingua franca. My database class is requiring that our projects be written in Java using servlets

It sounds like you have skipped a prerequisite course. A well structured IT degree will not expect you to know something as significant as Java servlets without having taught it in a previously.

share|improve this answer
I am aware that there are gaps in my knowledge -- I am largely self-taught. That said, if I can find good documentation on this topic, I can learn it. Hence the question. :) – syrion Mar 19 '11 at 3:04

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.